


All My Sorrows Soon Forgotten

by HereLiesBethBoland



Series: Tumblr Fluff Prompts [1]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Amnesia, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Memory Loss, Pining, Romance, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-10-13 18:53:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20587367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HereLiesBethBoland/pseuds/HereLiesBethBoland
Summary: He sits down next to her like he does at least twice a week,figures if she didn’t want to see him she would go somewhere else.“Elizabeth,” he greets her.“Still don’t remember you,”“Yeah, but we friends now right?”In which Beth has amnesia and Rio's not havin' it.





	1. I can't just forget you

**Author's Note:**

> Based on Tumblr prompt by Lililoves (chapt. 1) 
> 
> Thank you to MsNikkiMoneyPenny who suggested I post to Ao3 -
> 
> I do not own these characters.

He sits down next to her like he does at least twice a week, figures if she didn’t want to see him she would go somewhere else. He watches as Marcus runs to play with Danny and Jane who are kicking a soccer ball around. 

“Elizabeth,” he greets her, taking a sip of his Chai and handing over the dirty Chai he brought her. It’s a pretty chilly October in Michigan. The leaves on the trees have changed to orange, yellow, and red creating a stunning panorama of color all around them. 

She doesn’t say anything back to him, but he sees her glance at him in his periphery. 

“Still don’t remember you,” she says taking the cup from him. 

“Yeah, but we friends now right?” 

She just huffs and shakes her head, but he can see a small smile playing on her lips. Her legs are crossed, and he glances down to see her the boot on her top leg bouncing slightly with nervous energy. 

“ _ They  _ definitely are,” she says, watching her kids play with Marcus. 

The accident had happened 6 months ago, a drunk driver had struck her van and she’d been out like a light for a couple weeks. Her girls had been meeting him during that time, giving him his cut from the dealership, since he wanted nothing to do with Dean. That had been the deal, and as stressed out and worried about Elizabeth as they had been, the ladies didn’t miss one meeting. 

As for him, he had to keep up appearances. Didn’t want anyone thinkin’ he’d gone soft just because one of his people had an accident. Truth was that he needed to see Beth’s girls so he could get updates on her. He had snuck in during after hours a few times, held her hand and talked to her. But no one knew that. 

He walked up on a particular night, and could see the tension coming off of them. They told him she had woken up a few days before. 

_ “That’s good, I need her at the dealership - the drops have been shit lately.”  _

_ “She can’t… she’s,” Annie was wringing her hands and Ruby was wiping at her eyes with a tissue.  _

_ “She’s what?” he had asked.  _

_ “Rio, she doesn’t remember any of this. She has amnesia.”  _

They told him she had been diagnosed with retrograde amnesia, and had no memory of anything that occurred in the last year. At first Rio thought it was some ploy to get out from under his hand. He’d been pissed and possibly in denial- demanded to know what hospital she was in and strong-armed it out of her visibly shaken sister. 

As soon as he saw her face though, he knew. She had no idea who the fuck he was. Rio was pretty sure he’d  _ never _ felt whatever emotion that little fact had conjured up in him, before. 

It was not pleasant. And it stuck with him.. Slunk into his chest, wound around his heart and just chilled there. When he saw her like this at the park, it twisted him up; but like a sore tooth, it hurt to push on it but also gave him relief. 

Whatever the hell this was, he didn’t have time for it. And yet here he was, bringing her damn dirty Chais. 

She was a low-key bitch about it, too. 

Thing was, she hadn’t been filled in on the past year. Apparently, the doctor told Dean that it was best not to remind her of anything  _ unpleasant _ that had happened. Something about creating false memories and post-acute trauma or some bullshit. Ruby tried to explain it to him, but he knew that dumbass husband of hers was gonna run with it and capitalize on it, citing “doctor’s orders”. 

A week after that, the girls had given him a check for a substantial amount, buying him out of Boland Motors, and covering all the debt they owed him. See, Beth had gotten a hefty settlement and Dean used a huge chunk of it to pay him off. And out. A note attached read: 

_ This should be more than enough to pay off Beth’s debt. _

_ Stay away from our family. For her sake.  _

He had chosen not to raise a fuss about the dealership; wouldn’t work without Elizabeth running it anyway. So he took the money and put it in a savings account for her. For later. Cuz fuck that guy. 

So yeah. There were several reasons he sought her out, started showing up with Marcus. He felt a need to carry out some sort of justice; not content to let her carry on with that loser like the entire marriage hadn’t imploded years ago. Not that there was much he could do about it. But he hoped seeing him would trigger her memories. 

Shit. Maybe he just misses her. 

He looks over at her, taking in her ivory skin; cheeks and nose pinched pink from the cold. 

“Ruby told me something about you today,” she says, briefly glancing at him and taking a sip of her drink. 

“What’s that,” he turns his body towards her on the bench, lifting his leg up. 

“She said you don’t give up easily. That you’re very persistent.” 

“She’s right.” 

She turns to him then, mirroring his position on the bench. As always, her beautiful eyes pierce right through his damn soul and make his breath catch. “What do you want ?” she asks him and there’s a hint of desperation in her tone. 

He stares at her for a long moment, willing her to remember. He knows it’s a possibility that her memories could come back and so he thinks maybe if she looks at him long enough it will spark something. Usually she looks away quickly, uncomfortable making eye contact with him- makes sense since she don’t know him anymore. But sometimes it feels like she doesn’t want to look away. Today is like that. And Rio feels it, when the atmosphere shifts and they’re feeding off one another’s energy again. Like old times. 

“ **I want you to be happy** ,” he finally says. 

“What does my happiness have to do with you? Here?” 

“I know you ain’t happy up in that house,” he says anger tingeing his voice. He’s not supposed to be doing this but his emotions are getting to him today. 

“How? How do you know that? I don’t know you. Not anymore,” she says defeatedly. 

“I know you though, Mama.” 

She scoffs. “I’ve only lost a year’s worth of memories. How much could you possibly know? Ruby says we “worked together” what are you in the PTA or something?” 

They had given Rio explicit instructions not to spill the beans about their association with him, but in moments like this he was ready to say fuck it. 

“Nah. I ain’t in no PTA.” 

“Will you please tell me? I feel like there’s a huge secret being kept from me.” 

Rio feels torn from the look in her eye. She looks so sad.  _ Damn _ . 

“It’s for your own good though. Didn’t they tell you what could happen?” 

“I don’t know. I never heard it from the doctor. Dean tried to explain it to me but…,” 

“Hold up. You heard this from Dean, not the doctor?” 

“Yeah, I… the doctor just told me I may start to regain memories and that I shouldn’t try to force anything because it could cause strain.” 

_ That mother f- _

“Why? What?” Beth must notice Rio’s face turning different shades of pissed off. 

“You got a birthmark,” he says. 

“What?” 

“Right here,” he points to his own inner thigh. 

“How do you…?”

“You and me, we got somethin’.”

“What are you talking about? Rio. Tell me.” 

“We worked together, you pulled jobs for me. Washin fake cash,” he smirks at her shocked expression. “You good at it too.” 

“I am?” 

“Hell, yeah. And your husband? He’s jealous of how much of a Boss Bitch you’ve become.” 

“Boss Bitch…?” 

“Yep. He usin’ this whole thing to control you and I’m pretty much done puttin’ up with it.” 

“Wait, wait,” she shakes her head and closes her eyes, clearly needing a minute. “I’m a criminal? How…? How did this happen?” 

“It’s a long story. Look, point is- you deserve to know what the hell happened in the last year.” 

“It sounds terrible,” she says looking up at her kids. “No wonder Dean seems so distant. I really messed up. You need to just go. Forget you ever met me. Whatever happened last year – it’s not my reality anymore.” 

Rio feels like he’s been punched in the stomach. Silent tears are falling down her face now, and he feels like shit for making her cry… but…

“ **I can’t just forget you. That’s not how it works** ,” he says. 

She looks over at him sadly. “How do you know about my birthmark?” she asks. 

_ Fuck it. _

“I saw it when I had you pushed up against the wall of a bar bathroom, sweetheart.” He watches as a flush lights up her face and spreads down her neck. “Mmhm.. you had your legs wrapped around me and your dress was up around your waist. I’ll never forget, I noticed it right before you came all around me.”

And suddenly, she’s not cryin anymore. She’s watching him as he moves in, closing the space between them on the bench. 

“See the thing is darlin’,” he reaches up and pushes her hair off her face, another thing he misses. “I know you feel this too, even though you can’t remember. Isn’t that right?” 

She bites her lip and nods. “So what am I supposed to do now?” she asks. 

“Be a boss bitch.” 


	2. I don't wanna be alone right now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She tips her mug, peering into the black liquid before taking a sip, and is instantly reminded of his eyes- dark, hot, and comforting.  
“Since when do you drink black coffee?” Dean asks. 
> 
> In which Beth stands up to Dean and calls Rio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own these characters. 
> 
> Tumblr prompt from erixxxaa

It's been strange, seeing him. Being around him. Strange in how familiar he feels. Like when you visit a place you know you’ve never been before but you swear you saw it in a dream. And the way he smells… strange to be comforted by the smell of a man you don’t know. Her thoughts are on him as the last bits of sleep fall away. 

She stretches out, smoothing her hands over the sheets, grateful to be alone in her bed. The night before she’d asked Dean to please sleep in a different room; that she was feeling, well.. Strange. She’d seen panic flash across his face and she’d turned away before having to face the kicked puppy look that would inevitably settle there. Thankfully, he hadn’t argued. She hadn’t been ready to confront him or “Be a Boss Bitch” as Rio had suggested, but she was sure she didn’t want to be sleeping next to him, knowing he’d been keeping such important information from her. 

Finding out that she’d been committing crimes had been a shock but also oddly intriguing; the man with the neck tattoo notwithstanding. She feels a thrill being in his presence, and has since the first day he’d sat down by her at the park. Feels a pull towards him. And even though her mind can’t remember him, the way her body reacts when he is around is proof enough that they’d been more than just associates. It was easy to believe the things he said to her on this fact alone. 

And things, thankfully, were starting to make sense. Sort of. Like puzzle pieces coming together. For example, when she’d returned from the hospital, Dean had gone into Kenny’s room for random missing items like ties and shoes; when she’d questioned him he’d told her they’d been in an argument the week of the accident and that he bunked with Kenny for a few days. He’d said it on a laugh and assured her it wasn’t anything important. Thinking about it now, knowing he has been lying to her, she knows she isn’t being told the full story. 

She’d also wondered why it felt so wrong sleeping next to Dean in the room they’d shared for so many years. Nothing about the children felt wrong, but when he tried to touch her, her skin crawled. She’d been sucking it up, feeling guilty. Trying to match his affection, give it back as much as possible. But she hadn’t forgotten that their marriage was on its last limb. They hadn’t touched in years from when she _ could _remember. 

She’d reasoned that this could be a new beginning… up until yesterday anyway. And it's funny because she feels more relief than disappointment; she may not remember last year’s events, but she’s certain now she doesn’t want a do-over with Dean. 

Who wants to be with a man they don't want to touch? 

A blanket of sadness settles over Beth as she thinks about the way she’d been settling before the accident, and now Dean’s manipulation and exploitation after the accident-- God she feels so stupid. She definitely does not want to get out of bed. 

“Hi mommy,” a small voice calls out from the doorway. 

Beth turns over and smiles at the little brown-haired girl and waves her over. She climbs onto the bed and Beth curls around her. They lay like that for several minutes, Beth smelling the baby shampoo on Emma’s hair and feeling the edges of sadness soften and scatter. This is her purpose. She can do this. Her babies need her. 

“Emma?” 

“Hm?”

“You know how I can’t remember some things from before my accident?”

“Mhm.”

“Well, there’s something I was wondering about. Do you think you can help me?”

“Sure, mommy,” she says as she plays with the braided detail on the sleeve of Beth’s pajamas. 

“It's so silly, I saw Daddy bringing his ties and shoes in from Kenny’s room. Do you know why would have to do that?” Beth runs her hand through Emma’s long, silky hair. 

“Daddy was sharing a room with Kenny,” she says, turning around in Beth’s arms and looking at her. “You didn’t know that?” She looks at her mom curiously. 

Beth quickly smiles to hide the anger threatening to burst out. “Nope. I guess I forgot!”

“Silly mommy,” Emma says and Beth tickles her softly; her daughter's giggles giving her joy in the quiet moment. 

“Ok bug. Time to get ready for school. You want pancakes?” 

“Yes!”

“Go wake up your lazy brothers and sisters, Ok?” 

“Ok,” she says, hopping down off the bed with her well-loved bunny. 

Beth gets dressed and heads out to the kitchen, taking a deep breath as she prepares to face Dean in light of new developments. She needs to keep her cool, and get the kids to school before bringing anything up. She feels a wave of disgust hit her as she walks into the kitchen to see him sitting there, drinking his coffee like everything is normal. 

“Morning,” he greets her as she walks in. 

“Good morning,” she says back. Beth gets the pancake mix and bacon from the fridge and puts the pans on the stove to heat. She lays bacon in one of them and stares at it, watching the fat start to sizzle. She zones out on it, thinking about how much more interesting it is than Deans face. 

Suddenly Beth feels hands on her waist and his head in her neck. She jumps and drops the spatula which causes Dean to straighten up behind her but his hands are still gripping her waist. 

“**Get away from me**, Dean,” she says shimmying away and pulling another spatula out of the drawer. 

“What’s wrong with you?” he asks, and it’s a question that should be asked in concern, but is instead dripping with accusation. 

“Not now.” 

She flips the pancakes and puts them on a plate, pouring four more. She needs coffee and also just needs to be doing something since he’s just standing there staring at her with his hands on his hips. 

She gets a cup and pours herself some coffee, drinking it black and hot- not caring that it burns her mouth.

The kids shuffle in, and the kitchen is filled with conversations. Kenny’s science project is due this week, Jane is the best soccer player in all of Detroit metro, Danny isn’t feeling well _ “Can I stay home?” _, Emma wants to have a playdate with Sasha…. All of it filling the space-- the different topics bouncing off one another, blending into one and then tapering off as the children realize mommy isn’t really in the mood to talk. 

Finishing up breakfast and plating it, Beth leans against the counter to drink her coffee and watch the kids eat. She tips her mug, peering into the black liquid before taking a sip, and is instantly reminded of his eyes- dark, warm, and comforting. 

“Since when do you drink black coffee?” Dean asks. 

Beth stares at him for a good ten seconds before answering. 

“I don’t know, Dean. Maybe adding all that shit to my coffee just weighs it down. I don’t really need it, ya know? It's almost like mm.. dead weight.” 

The kids stare at her, not used to hearing her say bad words. Dean looks afraid again, which causes her to roll her eyes and down her coffee. She rinses out her cup and sets it on the drying mat. 

“Finish up, kids. We need to leave in ten minutes, ok?” 

A chorus of ok’s answer her. 

“We need to talk. Can you go in late?” she asks Dean.

“Yeah, sure,” he says, looking worried. _ He should be, _ she thinks. 

“I’ll be in the car!” she yells out to the kids as she walks out the front door. 

One silver-lining of Beth being laid up in the hospital, is that the children had figured out how to get dressed and put their backpacks together on their own. They’d also gotten used to hot lunch. She still loves making their lunches but today is definitely a hot lunch day. 

When she returns from the school run, she sets her purse by the front door and goes into the living room. She kicks her shoes off and brings her legs up under her. Dean comes in and sits across from her on the ottoman. Beth doesn’t know what to say. She is angry, sad, scared, confused-- There are so many emotions warring and she thinks it just really sucks that instead of helping her, supporting her, Dean has been lying to her. She doesn’t really know where to start with this.

Dean reaches out and touches her leg. “Bethie, **talk to me**.” She can feel his nervous energy coming off of him in waves and is at once disgusted by his weak nature. 

_ “....you deserve to know what the hell happened in the last year.” _

She hears his voice, Rio’s, clear as a bell in her mind and it seems to light a path for her. 

“You’ve been lying to me,” she begins, and holds a hand up to stop him as he starts to sputter out a rebuttal. “Let me speak.” He has the good grace then, to sit back and remove his hand from her. 

“When I asked you why there were ties and shoes of yours in Kenny’s room, you lied. It wasn’t just because of one fight, was it? We weren’t sleeping in the same room at all anymore, were we?” 

Dean looked away shaking his head. 

“And so you thought it would be a good idea to move back in since I conveniently forgot why it is I kicked you out of the room in the first place?” 

“I.. Beth,” 

“And why was that, Dean? Why were you sleeping in Kenny’s room?” 

“We… Beth we just weren’t getting along. I thought we could start over. I thought this whole thing was a blessing in disguise.” 

“How dare you. How _ dare _ you call my pain and suffering a blessing.” 

“I just mean…”

“Dean. Why did I kick you out of our bedroom?” 

“Beth, please, Dr. Dreyfuss told me not to put unnecessary stress on you. I don’t want to upset you.” 

“I’m already upset that you lied to me. Just tell me. I deserve to know.” 

Dean scoffs and rises to his feet, pacing back and forth. Beth watches in irritation, patience dwindling rapidly. 

“I can’t. I can’t say it… oh my god. Beth just.. You need to trust me.” 

“Trust you?! That’s hilarious.” She stands and faces him, arms flying out. “What is your problem, just fucking tell me why you were in Kenny’s room, Dean! Did you cheat on me or something?” 

The look of shock on his face says it all, and Beth barks out a sound that is somewhere in the vicinity of a laugh. A few more come out, and she collapses back onto the couch. And then laughter is bubbling out little by little, and Dean he’s just staring at her terrified, and when she sees the stupid look on his face she laughs harder- so hard shes crying.

And then she’s actually crying- huge gulping sobs and he’s next to her with a hand on her back-

“Breathe just breathe, oh god, Beth i’m so sorry,” he says and he sounds far away. She shoves him off of her, and goes to her room slamming the door. Leaning against it, she attempts to control her breathing. 

Reality sinks in as Beth realizes she’s been sleeping next to a man who’s been with another woman. Or women. And not just in the last 6 months, but before that… who knows how long… _ oh god _. 

She makes it to the bathroom just in time, throwing up bile into the toilet. She cleans herself up, rinses and spits, then leans on the vanity looking at herself. 

_ “Be a Boss Bitch.” _

“I want you out,” she says coming into the living room with renewed strength. 

“What?! No! I’m not leaving.” 

“You are. You will,” she says evenly.

Dean stomps into her space and Beth leans away, a bit taken aback at his sudden aggression. She forces herself to look him in the eyes and not cower. 

“This is _ my _ house, and _ my _family," he says, staring down at her and she hesitates for only a moment before speaking. 

“Get your things and get _ the fuck _ out of my house. Or I will have Rio _ remove _you,” she says with deadly intent that comes from somewhere deep. 

Beth smiles sweetly in response to his gaping fish-like expression, steps around him, grabs her purse and walks out. 

Her hands are shaking as she puts her car in reverse and pulls out onto the road. The look on Dean’s face when she mentioned Rio was all the proof she needs that he’s been intentionally trying to hide his existence from her. When she gets to a stoplight she pulls her phone out and scrolls through her contacts looking for his name. It’s not there. She doesn’t know why she wants to call him. She should just call Ruby. Maybe Ruby knows his number? But then, there would be questions...

Frustration rises up as she realizes she can’t just get a hold of him. She drives aimlessly for a few minutes, heading in the direction of downtown when she remembers something from a few weeks ago. 

_ “What’s this?” she asks, peeling the small pink post-it note off the coffee cup he’d handed her. _

_ “Just in case,” Rio says, shrugging nonchalantly. _

_ “In case of what?” Beth squints at the badly scribbled numbers. _

_ “Flat tire. Tornado. Maybe you feel like like a cappuccino or somethin’ next week, Mama, I don’t know. Just in case.” _

_ She’s quiet then, sensing his impatience and she doesn’t ever understand this familiarity between them but she does acknowledge its existence. _

_ “Pretty sure the tornado would sweep me away before I could decipher this. Is that a 4 or a 9?” she asks and he huffs - grabbing it and scrunching up the paper in his hand. _

_ “Forget it,” he says. _

_ “Give it back!” She pulls on his sleeve and pries his fingers open, taking the crumpled note and stuffing it in her purse. _

Beth pulls into a Whole Foods and parks, grabbing her purse and digging through it. She sees the bright pink slip of paper on the bottom and pulls it out, a sticky lifesaver attached to it. 

“Gross.” She smooths the note out and carefully dials the numbers, hoping she read them correctly. 

The phone rings once… twice… three times…

“Hey Mama.” The low cadence of his voice is immediately soothing, wrapping her up in relief. 

“Hi,” she says. 

“What’s goin’ on?” 

“I...I kicked Dean out,” she says. 

“Yea? You straight?”

“I’m just so _ angry.” _

“No shit. I would be too. You confront him about the doctor stuff?” 

“Not yet. I just wanted him out of my house.” 

“You ain’t gotta deal with anything else right now, ok?”

“Ok.” 

There’s silence for a few beats. She doesn’t want to get off the phone with him. God she… she wants to see him. 

“There anything I can do for you, Elizabeth?” he asks, his voice like warm honey. 

“Yes. Maybe,” she falters, closing her eyes and feeling a bit ridiculous. It’s just... he’s the only one that’s been real with her and so maybe she can be real with him too?

“**I don’t wanna be alone right now**,” she says, and the words come out quicker than intended and on a laugh, like they had to fight their way out. 

“Where you at?” he asks. 

“Whole Foods on Mack.” 

“Be there in ten.” 

Click. 

Oh. Ok then. 

Ten minutes later and he’s pulling quickly and expertly into the spot next to her like he’s filming a scene for Fast and the Furious. He’s rolling his window down and so she rolls her passenger one down. 

“C’mon,” he says gesturing with his chin. Beth blinks dumbly for a few seconds before figuring out what he means. She quickly grabs her purse and coat, gets out and locks her doors. As she’s walking to his car, she's running her tongue over her teeth in case of rogue lipstick; she really wishes she had looked in a damn mirror before he’d pulled up. 

She gets in his car, sinking into the soft leather. She practically melts into the seat, the warmers underneath as comforting as the look in his eyes. 

“Hey,” he says softly. 

“Hi, thanks for,” she gestures ambiguously. 

“My pleasure. You wanna drink? Or eat?” he asks, eyebrows raised in question. 

“Drink. Definitely, drink,” she says smiling at him. 

And then he’s smiling back and he looks so… oh wow. He’s really handsome. Her eyes track his tongue as it caresses the inside of his bottom lip. She brings her eyes back to his and feels something warm and urgent settle in her chest at the look he’s giving her. 

“What?” she whispers, because he’s just _ staring _ at her. 

He looks away then, putting the car in drive. A ghost of a smile is still there when he tells her to “Buckle up”. Beth’s heart rate spikes as they drive who knows where. Doesn’t matter, she thinks. Because for the first time in six months, she doesn’t feel lost. 


	3. I made a mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Thinking about her lost memories and the last few months makes her feel raw, so she’s grateful for a secret place to talk about it..." 
> 
> Beth and Rio have a drink and more of their history is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff Prompts from Tumblr - Thank you Hunoncall !!
> 
> Thank you Lunafeather for reading this over for me ❤️

There's something refreshing about their dynamic; of him knowing her and her just getting to know him. She hasn’t given it too much thought just allows it to be so, and feels comfortable talking to him because of it. Part of it is the way he looks at her, like he doesn’t just remember certain instances or conversations, but is familiar with the secret things between them. And yes, they’d slept together as he’d admitted in graphic detail, but it's not about the things that happened when no one else was around. No, this is a connection that lingers; his memory being strong enough to anchor it. 

They sit at the bar nursing drinks. Hers is a bourbon on the rocks that Rio ordered for her, much to her amusement. He drinks water with lime, and she’s so keyed into him right now that even the way he hydrates is attractive. 

They start out next to one another, bar stools appropriately spaced and then an hour goes by and he’s closer somehow, and by some action she must have missed. His leg keeps brushing her ankle as he swings it back and forth, his body is angled toward her; attentive, present. 

“You get headaches or anything like that?” 

“Sometimes,” she says. “It will ache a bit and then I’ll feel a little cloudy but it usually passes within a few minutes.” 

Rio nods and considers her, chin on hand. 

“It could be worse. I’m lucky,” she says. 

“You tough, though.” 

“I suppose. I don’t really have a choice but to move forward. Like any of us.” 

“There’s always a choice, Ma.” 

Beth thinks about her own mother. When adversity came, she chose isolation and escape. She nods at Rio realizing he’s absolutely right. 

“Thanks. Its… it hasn't been easy. Not remembering.” 

She sees it come and go quickly; the smallest pout of his lips and crease between his eyes. He doesn’t speak, just stares openly, listening. She hasn’t talked about it. Not really. Maybe a little with Ruby and Annie, but she hates the pitying looks they give her, and she doesn’t like making them sad. She’s been trying to just move past it, but it feels nice to give a voice to what she’s been feeling. 

And Rio doesn’t seem to feel sorry for her or sad about her situation. His overall vibe is that he’s interested in what she’s been going through and that.. that makes Beth feel stronger, somehow. 

“Sometimes I get these flashes.. I don’t know. Maybe memories? It's hard to tell because they seem to operate more like dreams.” She looks into her drink then, twirling it a bit and then finishing it. Rio gestures to it and she nods. 

“Nother’ round, Kyle,” he says to the bartender. “What happens in them?” 

“Um…” Beth glances at Kyle as he fills her glass. 

Rio must sense her self-consciousness because suddenly he’s standing up. “C’mon. Let's go somewhere more private.” 

He pulls her coat off the back of her barstool and she stands, putting her purse over her shoulder and smiling slightly at him. He gestures for her to lead the way and so she does, all the way to a booth in the back of the bar. It's sandwiched between a half wall and a window, perfectly situated so that no one has to know they’re here. 

Thinking about her lost memories and the last few months makes her feel raw, so she’s grateful for a secret place to talk about it, not wanting anyone else to be privy to her vulnerabilities. Not that opening up to Rio is the easiest thing in the world; the man’s stare alone induces anxiety. Yet he’s the one who cared enough about the state of her mind to tell her the truth in the first place, and that feels significant to her. 

Beth sits down on one side of the booth and sets her purse next to her. Rio lingers and for a second and she thinks he’s going to sit on her side, but then he’s sliding into the opposite side of the booth with feline grace. He scoots all the way in, bringing his legs up sideways on the seat, and bunching her coat up on his lap. 

“Comfy?” she asks smiling. 

“Mmhm. You?” He looks at her warmly. 

“Yes.” And then the heat of his gaze seems to move; wraps around her limbs and spreads out over her chest and up her neck. 

“Tell me about these dreams, Mama.” 

And so she tells him about the flashes; kids laughing in a restaurant she’s never seen, a man jumping up and down howling and Ruby holding a gun in shock (that one getting a loud laugh out of Rio), a parachute going up and down, all just so quick and fleeting. Not quite memories. 

“Oh but those are memories sweetheart.” 

“You think so?” Beth asks, leaning up onto her folded hands and looking at him hopefully. 

“I know for a fact. Your girl shot my connect in Canada. In the damn foot, too.”

Beth gasps and stares at him open-mouthed. “Are you kidding me?” 

“Nah,” he says. “It was hilarious. Kinda hated that guy.” 

“Hated?” 

“Nevermind.” She eyes him warily. She may not be too hip on the crime world, but usually referring to people in the past tense is not a good sign. A few awkward beats pass between them and Beth collects the condensation on her glass with her fingers, wiping it on her pant leg. 

Rio is squinting at her. 

“What?” she asks, tongue swiping across her teeth again just in case. 

“Did you say parachute?” 

“Yeah,” she laughs out. “Weird, right?” 

Rio takes his phone out then and starts scrolling through it. When he finds what he’s looking for he lifts his chin in her direction. 

“Com’ere,” he says. 

Beth feels something zip through her at the invitation. She comes over to his side and he moves his legs to accommodate her, keeping her coat on his lap. She really likes that it’s draped over him and she’s unsure why. 

As Beth settles in, Rio scoots over so that his side is pressed against her, and he leans on his forearms with his phone in his hands. 

“What’s this?” she asks as he presses ‘play’ on a video. 

“You’ll see.” 

The video begins and she recognizes the setting immediately as the park they meet at. She sees Marcus kicking a soccer ball, and then Jane appears, and Beth smiles as she realizes they’re playing together. Then, in the field behind Jane and Marcus, Beth sees a woman fanning a parachute out and she glances at Rio. 

“Watch,” he says. 

Beth watches as Marcus and Jane see the parachute and quickly run over to it, along with several other children who have taken notice. Rio has recorded the entire spectacle— the woman spreads the parachute out and all the kids grab ahold of it, lifting it high and bringing down around them at her instruction. 

Beth’s smile grows as she watches the kids laughing and playing together. 

“It’s pretty sweet that you recorded this,” she says softly, watching as Emma is picked to sit in the middle as all the kids make waves around her. 

Rio doesn’t speak and when she glances up at him again, he’s watching her. Then, the video pans to the right and she’s looking at herself. She’s sitting on a bench, wearing her favorite yellow sundress and her ridiculously big hat. The camera zooms in on her; she’s smiling and beaming watching her kids play. And why had he..?

She looks at him in question but his eyes are focused back on the video and he watches the smiling Beth, the sides of his mouth quirking up. The video ends and he looks over at her. 

“ **Stop staring at me** ,” he laughs out. 

“Oh you're one to talk, stalker!” 

“Had to keep an eye out- you was always gettin’ into trouble,” he says smirking and setting his phone down. “You see, though? You got real memories from that time. They’re not gone… just misplaced. You’ll find em’.” 

Beth is practically beaming at him she’s so happy the flashes are pieces of her memory. She wants to throw her arms around his neck and hug him for helping her but she says ‘thank you’ instead. 

He nods and settles back into the booth again, draping his arm behind where she’s sitting, his hand brushing up against her hair causing a shiver to pass through her body. 

“What else you got? Maybe I can help with another one.” 

Beth thinks about a particularly interesting one. One she’s been wondering about since her and Rio’s last meeting in the park. She bites her lip and his eyes fall to it, then blatantly dip down to her cleavage, the action causing an instant spike to her body temperature. 

“Yeah, you have somethin’ else huh. Tell me,” he says, eyes boring into hers. 

“There is something,” she begins and he’s tilting his head, listening. “I’m handing someone something, and their hand clasps onto mind… and holds it for a second. The hand, it looks... um…”

Rio is smiling slightly and his eyebrows raise in amusement. “Brown?” he asks. 

“Yes,” she says and flushes at how silly she feels. “I was gonna say tan, but… yes.” She looks at him expectantly. 

“Hm.” He flexes his arm behind her and starts to twirl a piece of her hair around his finger. 

“It’s a random thing to remember but… it feels important for some reason,” she says sort of breathlessly. A shiver passes through her as his hand moves gently through the ends of her hair, rubbing the strawberry strands between the pads of his fingers.

“Not random,” he says, watching his ministrations. 

“Was it you?”

He threads his hand in her hair deeper, splaying it against the back of her head and then pulling out, combing it with his fingers. Goosebumps spread down her arms as he repeats the action again. 

“Mhm. That was me.” 

His other hand slides under hers where it rests on the table and he rubs his thumb back and forth across the back of it.

“ **Made a mistake** … thinkin’ I could be inside you once and be done with it. Had to touch you again,” he says in a gravelly, soft tone, his eyes now on their joined hands. 

“When was it?” Beth asks, suddenly more curious about the timeline than ever. 

“Bout a week after I got up close and personal with your birthmark.”

They stare at one another and now he’s gently massaging her neck and the back of her head. Beth’s eyes close, head rolling forward because it feels  _ so good _ to be touched like this by him. 

Suddenly his other hand leaves her’s and he’s lifting her chin, rubbing his thumb over the dimple there. She stares into his eyes, completely captivated by the way he seems to  _ see her.  _

“We were here,” he says, running his thumb over her bottom lip. 

She stays completely still, enthralled by the gentle strokes of his thumb, back and forth across her mouth like he’s fascinated by it. 

“What?” she asks when her brain reminds her that he’s said something. 

“That bathroom right around the corner.” 

Oh. She wants to ask him how that even came about, but her gut is telling her it's not a simple answer. Not by the way he’s looking at her. She purses her lips just barely against his thumb and then he’s sweeping it over her cheekbone and searching her face. 

“Can I ask you something?” she asks. 

“Go head.” 

“Why do you look at me like that?” 

She’s clearly feeling bold from the bourbon, but she really is curious. It's intense and she’s often confused by the reverence in his eyes. He doesn’t speak immediately, just keeps looking; eyes sweeping up to her hairline down to her mouth and then settling his back on hers.

“Your face is pretty, I like lookin’ at it.. and...,” he says, shrugging, “maybe it's that whole ‘don’t know what you got til it’s gone’ type’a shit.” 

“I don’t understand,” she says. 

“Me either, Mama.” The look in his eyes is so genuine that she thinks its a good enough answer.

“Will you tell me about our time together?” His eyebrows raise suggestively and she huffs. “Not… that. I mean us working together. I’m curious about it.” 

“Sure,” he says. “Let’s get outta here though.” 

His hand falls from her hair and it takes her a second to catch up, but then she’s rising out of the booth, aware of his eyes on the back of her. As they walk out of the bar, a nervous anticipation settles in as she realizes they’re leaving together to an even more private location. 

Rio comes up beside her then, and she feels his hand rest on her lower back and slide down; her breath catches as his fingers dip into her back pocket and slide out just as quick. He holds up a $20 bill in front of her. 

“Watch out for pickpockets,” he says, smirking, and Beth is struck at how incredibly handsome his face is. And how badly she wants to touch it, kiss it. 

“Keep it,” she says smiling at him, the imprint of his hand burning where he’s touched. “I appreciate this a lot.” 

“Pleasure’s all mine, trust me.” He slides the $20 back in her pocket, taking his sweet time on the way back out, then settles her coat over her shoulders as they walk outside. 

Rio opens the passenger door for her, and Beth watches him make his way around the front of the car. 

“Have you always been such a gentleman towards me?” she asks when he gets in. 

“Not exactly,” he mutters. 

They arrive at a brick building in Midtown, Rio pulls up next to it and turns off the engine. 

“What time you gotta be back home, Ma?”

Beth shrugs and looks out the window. She doesn’t want to go home tonight. She loves her kids and feels a stab of guilt for thinking it, but she just doesn’t want to be in that house right now. 

“Lemme have your phone,” he says. She digs into her purse and pulls it out, handing it to him. 

He puts in her code and unlocks it before she can tell him the password and watches as he scrolls through, pulling up a name and dialing it. She’s bemused by the whole thing but is too sated from the alcohol to question it, content to let the scene play out in front of her. 

“Yo....What’d you just call me? ....Yeah she’s with me… mhm,” he holds the phone out to Beth. “Say hi to your sis and tell her I don’t got you tied up or nothin’.”

“Hi Annie! I’m drunk.” 

“She called me….” Rio says, bringing the phone back to his face. “mhm...Can you get the kids? Keep em’ this weekend?....Call out ...I'll pay you double…. Yeah you can stay at her house ...Nah he ain't gonna be there.”

Rio glances over at Beth who is rooting around in her purse. 

“...Told him to fuck off….Mhm…. Not really sure she’ll have to fill you in on the details ...Yeah ... that's what I said,” he says, chuckling. “Cool, thank you. Yeh, she just needs a break. I’ll take care of her... Aight, see ya.” 

Rio hangs up and hands her the phone. “You just won yourself a staycation, sweetheart.” 

Beth smiles brightly at him. 


	4. Why can't you let me go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things become complicated as tension mounts and more is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify- Beth lost her memories right after the Dubby but before Dean took the kids. :) 
> 
> These last two chapters are not based on any Tumblr prompts.

He opens the door to his loft and she steps carefully inside like she’s afraid of what she’ll find. He watches her look around and sees her lips part, recognizing that she’s impressed. 

“This place is beautiful.” She turns in a circle taking it all in and then walks to the kitchen, slipping off her coat and setting it and her purse on the stainless steel island. “Is this ok right here?” she asks, and he knows it's because his apartment is immaculate. He ain’t got one thing outta place. 

“Yeh, wherever you wants fine.”

“I love the greens and earth tones. It's very...comforting,” she says, walking over to his shelves and running her fingers over the decorative books and knick-knacks. “Record player. How chic.” 

“I like classic things, what can I say,” Rio says leaning against the island. His eyes dip down to where her black skinny jeans are hugging her ass, and he thinks about the perfect shape of it when she lifted her dress for him way back when. 

Had he known that would be the only time he’d get to see her like _ that _… but he hadn’t known and shit was complicated between them back then. Still is. But that fact ain’t doing nothing to stop the craving. Why would it? His fixation on her is the very reason shit’s complicated. Her voice shakes him from his thoughts which was good cuz he was gettin’ a headache. 

“Can we play a record later?” she asks and the way her eyes are brimming with excitement makes him feel some kinda way. 

“Make yourself at home,” he says, trying to act as casual as possible. He’s on edge having her up in his personal space. What had he been thinkin’ bringing her here? 

The air between them is buzzing with that familiar tension and he’s not sure he can control himself. He wants her to have a safe place to chill though, to take a timeout. He wanders over to his bedroom area, pulling a t-shirt and knit pants out of his drawer. The place is a huge studio, even Marcus’s room is open- Rio don’t like doors. Its a safety thing and probably a little bit of over-protection. That kid is his world, though. Has been, until now. 

“I’m gonna change,” he says. “You good?” 

“Do you have coffee here?” she asks. 

“Keurigs in the pantry. You’ll see it.”

When he comes back out, she’s looking out the window, sipping from his favorite mug. 

“Oh did you want….?” she asks when she hears him sit on the couch behind her. 

“I’m good. You wanna sit down, or you gonna wander around all day?” 

“It's just such a neat place. Makes me feel like I’m at Peter Brady’s house. You know… like ten years later.”

“Peter who?” He looks at her quizzically. 

“Peter Brady? The cute one from the Brady Bunch,” she says like it's common knowledge or something. 

Beth moves over to the couch and sits beside him; leaving about two feet of space between them. 

“Sounds like some white people shit I know nothin’ about.” 

“You didn’t watch the Brady Bunch?” 

“Nah.” 

“You really missed out,” she says and Rio laughs. 

“Kinda doubt that’s true. So I remind you of the cute one, huh?” 

“Mmhm.” They stare at one another and he notices that she’s holding his gaze longer now and it reminds him of before. 

Since the accident, she’s been shying away from eye contact with him and it's been this reminder to Rio how much their dynamic has changed now that she ain’t gotta put on a front or try and stand up to him anymore. And though he misses that fire in her eyes whenever she’d challenge him, he kinda likes this softer, gentler version of them.

Not that the fire is gone...it’s just being kindled by something else. 

“So what you wanna know?” he asks. 

“Well, now you have me all curious. I want to know all about our partnership,” she says, smiling at him and he’s struck dumb by her sharp little vampire teeth and her perfect lips. _ Wait… what did she say? _

“What makes you think we were partners? _ You _ worked for _ me _,” he says, pointing to himself. 

And of course they_ were _ partners at the end there, but she doesn’t know that so it's just a tad presumptuous. He wasn’t some soft crime boss (the last few months of him bringing her chais in the park notwithstanding) and he kinda needs her to know that shit. 

“Ok fine,” she says, pulling her legs onto his couch. She pulls a throw pillow from behind her and lays it on her lap. “Start from the beginning.”

So Rio tells her about how she unknowingly stole from him, the stupid dolls, the trip to Canada… Beth is beaming when he tells her how they successfully smuggled counterfeit over the border. 

“We must have been terrified!” she says. 

“It's what you had to do to clear your debt,” Rio says, shrugging. “You didn’t seem all that terrified.” 

_More like turned on,_ he thinks, remembering how she looked at him in the warehouse. Damn, those eyes could turn a man into a puddle on the floor. He does pretty good, considering. 

“So we were in the clear then? After we brought you the fake money?” 

“Mmhm,” he says, knowing exactly where this is going. 

“Then how are we here talking right now?” 

“Oh, I’ll tell you exactly how, darlin’,” he says looking at her heatedly and getting up. 

Rio can feel her eyes on his back as he walks over to his room and pulls a black satchel out of his bedside drawer. He comes and sits next to her, closer this time, and sets the satchel on top of the pillow in her lap. 

“What’s this?” she asks warily. 

“See for yourself.” Beth dips her fingers into the velvet material, stretching the string ties open and pulls out her pearls. She holds them in her hands and then she holds them up to her nose and smells them. 

_ Huh _. He does the same thing sometimes. 

“They’re yours,” he says to confirm. 

“I know, I can smell my perfume. I never take these off. I wondered where… why do you have these?” she asks, scrunching her eyebrows. 

“That night, after y'all did the border run for us, we had cleared outta the warehouse after washing over a million in fake cash. My boys were still runnin’ surveillance there and they called me over when they saw you pull up in your mama-van. I seen you on the camera walk in and just kinda stand there. Then you took those off and dropped them on a doorknob. Got in your car and drove off after that,” he says talking with his hands. 

Beth face lights up in astonishment and Rio realizes he’s having fun telling her all of this and watching her react.

“That's… inSANE,” she says, staring at him. 

He bows his head and chuckles, and when he meets her eyes again she’s staring at him like he needs to clarify immediately. 

“What?” he says, messing with her. 

“Well? What happened next?!”

“So check it out - I go over to your house right, because I’m thinking you want me to fuck you against those fancy granite countertops.” 

_ There’s that blush I love, _he thinks as her cheeks pink up prettily. 

“...but nah, I wasn’t that lucky,” he continues, voice dipping low. Beth licks her lips and fingers her pearls restlessly on the pillow, hanging on every word. “...you stood across from me in this tight green sweater, drinkin’ bourbon, and told me you wanted to do another job.” 

She blinks rapidly, opening and shutting her mouth a few times before speaking. “That’s just… why would I do that?” she asks, her voice barely above a whisper. 

“Lure of the darkside, baby. You got a taste… who knows. Maybe you did have a crush on me or somethin’,” he says looking at her and smiling.

“I mean, it's not entirely impossible,” she says. 

“Nah?” 

She shrugs. “You seem pretty charming.” 

Just as he’s about to get pulled completely under by the flutter of her eyelashes and the sound of her voice, he remembers who they were back then, and stops whatever coy bullshit they’re doing, smile dropping as a seriousness sets over his eyes. 

“Like I said before at the park. You and me? We got somethin’. I don’t know what it is but we both feel it and we both try to ignore it, fight it… we just end up right up close again; breathing each other's air,” he says. 

He notices the wide-eyed way she’s looking at him, like he holds all the answers. It’s the same way she did right before he shot her husband, and he’s kind of addicted to it but at the same time, he doesn’t want her to misinterpret. 

“But look, things weren’t roses and sunshine with us. I have an empire to run and you and your girls? You done good in some areas but I’ve had to clean up a lot of your messes. To be honest, sweetheart, you’ve done a lot of harm to my business.” 

“What do you mean?” she asks, putting her pearls back in the satchel and setting them on the coffee table. 

How can he even begin to explain the ways in which Elizabeth and her crew compromised his organization? 

“It means you and I are usually at odds. It means when we were breathin’ each other’s air, it wasn’t exactly with hearts in our eyes. More like flames. You pissed me off almost daily.” 

Her face falls a little and it makes his heart clench but she needs to hear this. He doesn’t want her believing in an idealized version of them. 

“But why? What did we do?” 

“Ain’t so much what you did as what you didn’t do.” Though they _did _some shit, too. Like turn him into the feds for one. Not that any charges could ever stick with the type of connections he had, but he'd still been pissed. She didn't need to know about that right now though. That was so far in the past it was almost irrelevant. And there was no way in hell he was about to bring up shooting her dumbass husband. 

“I don’t understand, what do you mean what we _didn't do?" _she asks. 

He stops and considers how to proceed. Some things had come to light recently, thanks to Rio’s connect in law enforcement. The grocery store dude Elizabeth had led him to believe she handled had been discovered to be alive and kicking. Now, he ain’t sure how deep in the web her and her girls were, considering there _had_ been a body they disposed of, and a body he most definitely retrieved from the trash dump. Rio needs to confront the other two about it but as far as right now? Makes no sense bringin’ her in to some convoluted mess he's still largely in the dark about. 

“You and your girls want the quick money yeah? But you ain’t willin’ to commit in a way that’s necessary for survival. When you can’t do what needs to be done because you got some selective morality, that creates problems for everyone involved.” 

He knows he’s being vague but he’s hoping she will pick up on the gist of what he's saying. She’s quiet for a bit and he assumes she's allowing the information to process, but with missing memories he can’t imagine its a very enjoyable experience. He watches her face and tries to gauge where she’s at. 

“You ok, Mama?” 

She nods. “Yes. I’m kind of relieved to hear that we had financial motivation. I get that it was exciting, but I would like to think it wasn't just an adrenaline rush that made me risk putting my family in harm's way," she says. 

Rio has to bite his tongue then because he knows damn well that's exactly what it was about for her. She was a fuckin' junkie for this life but he's trying to use discernment here. He ain't tryin' to give her a play by play and besides, she would only be hearing things from his perspective. He's starting to think simplicity is key here.

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know the details or nothin’ but there was definitely some financial hardships. Somethin’ about a new medication that your friend couldn’t afford for her kid. I know you was havin’ trouble with bills, that sorta thing."

“Sounds like a classic case of having our cake and eating it too,” she says, sounding tired. Her excitement from earlier has morphed into a sort of melancholy. 

“Hey,” he says softly and she looks at him. “That’s the past, yeah? Things are different now.” 

“How? I know all those problems we caused for you didn’t go away because I lost my memories.” 

Rio frowns and looks down at his clasped hands. “You’re right, they didn’t. But you ain’t gotta worry about it anymore.” 

“You must be good at cleaning up messes if that’s the case,” her eyes are boring into his like she’s tryin’ to get answers to questions she’s not willing to ask. 

“That’s why I’m the King, baby.” 

Her eyes light up then and it does something to his insides. He knows she’s attracted to that power; likes it in him and also craves it for herself. In this way, Rio knows her better then she knows herself. Being involved with him woke something up in her, and she may have forgotten about it but he can see its still there beneath the surface. A question lingers in her eyes and he sits there quietly allowing the silence to coax it out of her. 

“Why did you continue working with me? Did you think eventually…” she gestures vaguely with her hands and he knows what she’s sayin’. 

Sorta, yeah,” he says on a laugh. “Was hopin’ you’d really boss up. Commit 100%. I'm pretty good at seein’ potential.” 

“Is that all?” she asks, sitting back and leaning her elbows on the armrest. She stretches her legs and his eyes flick to her socked toes which begin to bob up and down with restless energy, grazing his thigh. His gaze travels up her body and lands where her cleavage is peeking out of her black sweater. 

“You’re like, a crime recruiter or something?” she questions him teasingly. 

As his eyes meet her's again, a sudden and fierce want spreads throughout his entire being. The need to pounce on her and pull her sweater down, get his fingers back in her soft hair and lick the inside of her mouth is overwhelming. The way the mood changes between them is enough to give him whiplash. Hell, he should be used to it by now; the need to consume her and be consumed by her is always there vibrating along an invisible line between them. 

Her toes moving against his leg and the way she’s looking at him are making him forget why he’s using restraint. Kinda seems like she down to clown though, she ain't exactly sober. Not usually an issue for Rio when its someone he's fooled with before; but that's a pretty gray area at this point. 

Finally, he shakes his head, answering her question. Nah he ain’t no crime recruiter, which is just another reminder of how sprung he is on this woman. She’s a special case, and though the familiar shame of having allowed her to get this deeply embedded into his heart threatens to taunt him, the need to draw her in closer is stronger, pushing it out completely and giving him renewed purpose. 

The thing about it was, him and Elizabeth were _good_ together. In more ways than one.

He stares into her eyes and pulls his top lip between his teeth, slowly releasing it and relishing the glance of her eyes to it. She looks flustered and its almost like her body remembers the way his mouth felt between her legs. Lips, tongue, teeth...he used all of it to bring her over the edge, kneeling on that dirty bathroom floor and _ fuck- _ now that he’s thought about it, the only thing he can see is her pretty white thighs spread open before him. 

“So what is it then, Rio? Why can’t you let me go?”

Its a good question. 

Its like when she left the pearls that night something opened up in him that he didn’t know existed, but how can he tell her that? How can he tell her that after he’d been inside her it hadn’t given him closure like he’d thought, but only made him crave her more? How is he supposed to explain how his name on her lips fills him with a deep need to possess her, and that the real reason he can’t let her go is because he _ cares _ about her. Deeply. He _can't _let her go. But he also can’t tell her why. 

She stares at him expectantly; wanting, no, _ needing _ an answer. 

Maybe he can show her. 

“Come over here,” he says. 

If she wants to know this type of information she’s gonna need to listen with more than her ears. Her eyes continue to burn into his but she remains unmoving. “Come on,” he repeats, gesturing with his head. 

Finally she comes over to him, sitting on her knees next to him. He smiles and feels his chest tighten as he watches the challenge in her eyes melt into vulnerability. 

He sets his hands softly on her hip and her arm, tugging her gently over his lap to straddle him, and he can’t stop the quiet groan that spills out of his lips when he feels her warmth envelop his lap. 

Her hands lay lightly on his stomach, palms up in a kind-of offering, as his rest on her legs. He squeezes her thighs and then runs his hands up and down their expanse, loving the thick feel of them and wishing he could feel the silky skin beneath. When he gets to the crease where her thigh meets her hips, he pushes his thumbs in and moves inwards. He’s watching his hands touch her, mesmerized, but when her breath hitches, he looks at her. He stares at her as he moves his thumbs in closer to her denim-covered center. She closes her eyes and a soft little mewl escapes her lips just as his hands switch directions, coming back to the tops of her thighs before travelling up.

Beth pushes softly against him; the press of her on his lap making him dizzy with want. Her fingers curl into the front of his shirt and then tentatively spread out over his chest, her touch causing him to grip her tighter. 

He watches her face as he continues his slow ascent up her torso, studying the pinch of her eyebrows as he squeezes her hips, and the perfect ‘O’ of her lips as he grazes over her ribs. As his hands sweep over the sides of her breasts, she opens her eyes and what he sees in their blue depths is something he wishes he could take and drop in the velvet bag with her pearls. He's not sure what he did to deserve having her in his lap and looking at him like that. 

Rio sits up then, leaning closer, and wraps his arm around her lower back for support as his hand smooths up her neck and his fingers thread into her hair. He wants to pull her to his mouth but he holds back, keeping his face about an inch from hers. He stays there, face tilted towards hers, feeling her sweet warm breath fan across his lips. 

“Elizabeth,” he whispers leaning slightly closer to her, overwhelmed by the need to finally feel her lips, taste them. 

Her hands grip his shoulders as she closes the distance slowly, dipping down and enveloping Rio’s bottom lip between hers. He stays perfectly still, barely moving his mouth against hers and then she does the same to his top lip. Her lips are so soft and its _so sweet _the way she’s kissing him. When he can’t hold back any longer, he grips her head tighter and licks her bottom lip, slipping his tongue in and sliding it expertly against hers. He moans into her mouth at the soft feel of her tongue, and pours in to her everything he wants her to know. 

All the things he can’t say. 

Beth moans her understanding, and the sound propels him to push deeper into the kiss, wrapping both arms around her fully, and pulling her flush against him. Her hands move up his neck and then she's holding his face as she kisses him. It makes him feel so _close... _he loves it but he wishes she could remember, because it's her. She's Elizabeth, but at the same time she's not. 

Their kisses grow more needy and then she’s biting at his lips and rocking against him and he wants to... _ damn _… he growls and bites her back. 

“Sorry,” she huffs out, “Your lips are so...” she says trailing off as he licks his way to her ear. 

“You can bite me all you want baby, long as I can bite you back,” he says into her ear, nipping at it. 

“Mmm ok,” she says and she’s smiling as she slides her hands up his scalp and pulls him back to her mouth. They kiss passionately, getting acquainted with one another’s mouths, hands grasping at each other urgently, until they’re both pulling at the fabric barriers between them. 

Rio starts moving southward, down her chin and neck, stopping to suck the flesh where he knows she is most sensitive and smiling against her when he gets the exact reaction he desires. 

“God you feel so _ good _ ,” she says. Her words make him even harder if that’s possible. She wasn't _ vocal _ like this in the bathroom, apart from a few sighs and moans that he'd put away for later. He kisses down lower, holding her firmly but bending her back so he can nip at her cleavage. 

“Mm your body makes me feel fucking crazy Mama, you have no idea,” he says, pulling her sweater down and licking into her bra, tongue barely grazing her areola. 

She starts rocking on his hips again and then Rio’s growling in frustration at all these clothes. He tugs her sweater up and she helps him pull it all the way off. Suddenly she's shy and he sees a blush travel across her cheeks and over her freckled chest as she looks anywhere but his eyes. 

Rio reaches for her chin tilting it up so he can look at her. “You ain't gotta be shy with me,” he says, fingers moving to fiddle with the front clasp of her bra. He tilts his head and raises his eyebrows in question. 

She barely has time to nod before he's got the garment off he's squeezing her glorious tits and rubbing his thumbs across her nipples. “So pretty,” he rasps out, watching as she arches into him. He didn't get to touch her like this before and it feels like a gift he doesn't want to waste.

As he wraps his lips around one of her nipples a thought skirts across his mind that maybe this wasn't such a great idea; that maybe he's taking advantage of her vulnerable state. But then she's purposefully grounding down on his hardness and all doubts melt away. 

This thing between them was bigger than their circumstances. It had a mind of its own and who was he to try and stop it? 

Rio was starting to think nothing could. 


	5. What now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beth and Rio get closer and both wonder what the future holds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shameless smut chapter. sorry not sorry? They needed to reunite its really out of my hands.

“Thought about this so many times,” he says, his mouth kissing and nipping all over her chest as she arches into him. “Seein’ you… kissin’ you.” He brings his face back up to hers and devours her lips, sinking back into the couch and pulling her with him.

Beth is in a lust-filled daze; hyper focused on how amazing his mouth feels as she grinds into his lap and kisses him back with equal fervor, her hands holding his face. Soon, he’s undoing her pants and tugging at them. She manages to remove them, albeit ungracefully, and then she’s back up close, pressing her satin-covered center against him and it feels  _ so good.  _ Her body is flush against his, arms around his neck and his around her back holding her to him. He’s looking up at her, breathing slow and heavy. Beth can feel how hard he is and the urge to bear down on him is strong. 

This moment though, it’s asking something of them. A pause. Beth is aware of it and suddenly just wants to be held. She melts into him and the noise he makes confirms how their synchronicity goes beyond the physical.

She turns her face into his neck and snuggles deeper into him, grateful for years of yoga and the ability to be wrapped up right against him comfortably. She brings her hands to his chest as his glide up and down her naked back, unhurried. His body is warm and strong despite its slim frame, and Beth is completely captivated by the feel of him under her. 

“Why do I feel like this?” she asks, "Who _are _you?"

His hands smooth up into her hair and he pulls his fingers through the soft locks. “Crazy right?” 

“Feels so good,” she says, rubbing her nose against his neck and then kissing him on the wing of his tattoo. 

“Mm... _ so fucking good _ ,” Rio says, running his hands back down her body. He feathers his fingers at her hips, bringing up goosebumps. 

“I wish I could remember.” She kisses his neck again, higher, and again right under his jaw. 

“Not sure you’d wanna kiss me like this if you could,” he says, his voice breaking.

Rio smells  _ divine _ and she wants to taste him, so she licks the spot on his neck and when she feels him grip her hips, she sucks his skin between her lips.. He groans and the sound fills her with an intense need to be filled by him. He tastes as good as he smells and so she moves to the spot just below his ear and sucks the skin there too, biting him softly. Any version of her would be out of their mind not to want his skin under her lips.

Taking his cue from her, Rio slides his hands under her panties and grabs her ass roughly, pushing her down on him and squeezing her soft flesh. Electricity sparks through her chest and limbs when she finally feels his touch at her entrance, a rush of wetness flooding there as she closes her eyes and moans out his name.

“Need to be inside you. Please,” he says desperately, groaning again when she bucks against his hand and whispers “yes”.

“Take these off, he says, tugging at her panties and the lace at her hips rips slightly. She looks at him in faux indignation and he tugs again, ripping them completely off. 

“My bad,” he says. 

She bites her lip to hide the huge smile that is threatening to embarrass her, and lifts up as Rio takes his pants and underwear off. He pulls her back over to straddle him on her knees and caresses his fingers over her folds, pleasuring her softly as his other hand wraps around himself. Beth’s eyes are transfixed; the image turning her on in a way she’s never experienced. 

“You like that?” he asks, stroking himself and her eyes flick to his expecting a smirk, but instead he looks completely wrecked.

She nods and his eyes dip down to watch her move against his fingers. When he makes eye contact with her again, it spurs him into action and the hand that’s working her moves to her hip to guide her down to him. He rubs the head of his cock against her and they both gasp at the slick feel of him sliding across her entrance. She starts to sink onto him, swallowing him slowly; the hitch of his breath making her chest feel tight. 

_ I love you,  _ she thinks out of nowhere.

Her eyes dart to his, afraid for a moment that she said it out loud. Rio licks his lips and smiles slightly before his jaw goes slack and his head falls against the back of the couch.

“Fuck,” he whispers, his eyes falling shut as she takes him all in, her body stretching deliciously to accommodate him.

Beth watches his face as she starts to rock her hips slowly. Soon he’s lifting his head and staring back and she doesn’t know what's gotten into her; she usually isn't this expressive but it just bubbles out. 

“You fit so perfectly,” she says, and something sparks in his eyes. He opens his mouth but nothing comes out. Instead, he looks into her eyes unwavering and silently communicates. 

Beth leans back slightly, gripping his head and his mouth goes to her breasts as he thrusts up into her. The slow rhythm they are building is so intense its making her body tremble and then his thumb is touching her  _ right there _ as she rides his lap and she’s so close.

“Don’t stop,” she says, closing her eyes and chasing it. His whispered encouragement spurs her on as intense emotion floods her heart. He bites her nipple and presses on her clit at the same time and she comes quick and bright, crying out. 

Rio moans deep and guttural as she squeezes him and rides out her orgasm, overwhelmed and overstimulated by everything happening in her mind, body, and heart. After a few moments, he swings her around so she’s laying on her back, hitches her leg over his hip and pushes back into her roughly. 

Beth realizes immediately that soft has left the building and as he slams into her. She loves it though, tightening her legs around him and delighting in his sure and steady thrusts; this man proving in so many ways his confidence and just uncanny ability to  _ touch her _ exactly the way she likes. After a bit, he rises to his knees and holds her body up by the hips, fucking into her and she watches him watch  _ them  _ and the look on his face is.. It’s… 

His body feels so familiar and though she’s only been with him the one time and can’t remember, it’s as if their connection transcends their circumstances. The sheer rightness of it surrounds them and seems to burrow deeper into her with every thrust of his hips. He lets her hips drop and covers her body with his; hands threading into her hair and tongue sliding against hers and something breaks open inside of her. 

“Rio,” she cries out as his thrusts start to stutter. She can feel that he is close so her hands smooth down his back to his ass, gripping him there hard and encouraging him to keep going. 

He moans into her mouth, kissing her and holding her tightly as he comes. Beth can’t stop the smile from spreading her lips at the slippery feel of them together and the slow rubbing of his pelvis against her clit. God, just knowing his come is inside her and all around her is bringing her right there again.

He pulls out slowly, biting her bottom lip as he does, and sits back on his knees. She pouts up at him too sated to voice her discontent at the loss. 

“Wanna see you,” he says softly, understanding. He rubs his thumb against her clit and Beth moans and moves against him, closing her eyes against the onslaught of emotion. 

“Look at me,” he says and she opens her eyes trying desperately to keep them on his; wanting to please him. His eyes flick from her face to her pussy. “ _ Mmm _ …come on,” he whispers as he touches her gently until she’s falling apart again. 

A few moments later Rio is sprawled over her, cushioned on her breasts with his hips cradled between hers. Beth drags her nails lightly over his back, goosebumps following her touch. 

“Am I crushin’ you?” he asks. 

“No,” she says softly, continuing the path of her fingers. 

They lay there quietly and Beth marvels at how comfortable and just  _ right _ it feels to be connected with him like this. Her brain has always done this thing where she pinpoints whatever is off in a situation and then immediately attempts to either remedy it or flee. She especially does this when things are good, never fully believing she deserves to feel good or that things could possibly go her way for long. She knows its a defense mechanism but she’s just continued to allow it to function in her life; assuming it’s too late to change, and also feeling comforted by it in a way. 

But at this moment in time with him she searches and finds nothing. The potential risks are floating out there in her peripheral; she knows they are but they don’t feel threatening. It's almost as if she can just be here in this moment- aware of the risks but not afraid of them. 

Her heart swells when he rubs his scruff against the tender skin of her breast. “Soft,” he whispers kissing her in the same spot. 

After a moment Beth starts to feel like she’s bursting with the need to verbalize what she’s feeling. She should let it be. Just lay there as they have been, enjoying the feel of one another and the peace of silence. But there’s also this urgency that this is a special time. That they may not have another moment like this. She’s not afraid of the future, just aware. 

“I feel...” she starts to add and then trails off. 

“What?” Rio asks after a moment.

“I think I have brain damage,” she says huffing out a laugh.

“Well, yeah.” 

“No, I mean… I’m not the same person I was before the accident.” 

“Trauma will do that,” he says. 

She nods. “I’ve never been one to talk about my feelings. I usually bottle them up until i get angry and they just come out.” 

“I can relate,” he says. “So what? You wanna tell me how you feel, go ahead. I ain’t gonna tease you or nothin’.” He runs his hand up and down the length of her leg. 

“Its stupid,” she says.

“Just tell me,” he laughs out, pinching her thigh. . 

“This… um… This feels right.” She closes her eyes as she feels him tense on top of her. 

“Does that sound crazy?” she asks after a few beats and she feels him relax back into her. 

Rio shakes his head, his hand gliding up her leg, over her hip and coming to rest on her ribs. 

“Not at all,” he says, feathering his fingers on her side softly.

Beth is quiet then because what is there left to say? He doesn’t offer up any verbal insight into his feelings but his touch is speaking quite loud so she tightens her arms around him and just allows the comforting feeling of being in his presence to wash over her the way it has been for the last 6 months. 

“Thank you,” she whispers. 

His grip on her tightens as well and he snuggles deeper into her, quiet for a long stretched-out moment. 

“For what?” he finally asks. 

“Helping me find myself.” 

  
  
  


“So what happens now?” Beth is sitting at his island watching him heat up chicken tortilla soup that he  _ made himself, _ and it smells delicious. 

“With what?” He’s shirtless and wearing his knit pants again, and Beth is trying not to stare. She's failing miserably.

“With us,” she states matter-of-factly, watching the muscles of his back flex as he moves and admiring his tattoos. God. Never in her life has she admired tattoos.

“Let’s just keep the focus on the here and now, yeah?” he says, turning around and leaning against the counter to look at her. 

Beth gets up from her seat and his eyes track her as she comes to stand in front of him. She’s feeling brave and frankly amazing, after what they’ve just shared. She puts her arms around his neck and looks up at him with the Bambi-est eyes she can muster, his discarded Tshirt she’s wearing riding up her thighs. 

“Why? Are you afraid I’ll remember I don’t like you?” she’s says teasing, and a darkness flashes in his eyes, breaking up the amused look on his face for a split second. 

Her fingers tickle the hairs at the back of his neck causing him to shudder.

Rio is still silent but his eyes are hot on her and Beth has no idea what’s gotten into her except that she  _ knows  _ Rio has feelings for her, and she’s found that when she’s bold it catches him off guard and she gets to see the That Look™️ on his face. The one she’s quickly becoming addicted to. 

The corners of his mouth turn up and he tilts his head, looking down at her. His hands remain frustratingly still at his sides and so she moves closer to him, allowing her braless chest to rub against him while scraping her fingernails along his scalp. His eyes close as a sexy noise slips out of his mouth and it feels like the sweetest victory. 

“You like _me_, don’t you?” she asks sweetly and feels his fingers start to lightly graze the sides of her thighs under the hem of the shirt. 

“Mmhm. You could say that,” he says, a smile spreading out and he looks adorable with his eyes closed… like a sleepy cat. 

“Obviously. You’ve been stalking me for months.” His eyes shoot open then and his hands grip her hips roughly. 

“You think that’s what that was?” 

Beth's fingers remain gentle, continuing their ministrations. She marvels at the downy feel of his close-cropped hair and thinks touching him is her new favorite pastime. 

“Maybe I was just keepin’ an eye on you. Makin’ sure you aint’ fakin’ this shit,” he says, hands softening and traveling back down the front of her legs. 

Her body reacts to his touch with an abundance of moisture gathering below, painting her inner thighs. 

“Or maybe you’re just obsessed with me,” she says, yelping as he grabs the backs of her legs and lifts her up. She wraps around him as he strides to his bed and dumps her on it, following her down and kissing her lips as laughter bubbles out of her.

“What about the soup?” she asks breathlessly as he moves down her body, biting her nipple through the shirt. 

“What soup?” he says, coming back to her mouth and biting her bottom lip as his hand goes between her legs, finger running up her slit. She moans into his mouth as his tongue slides against hers. He kisses her passionately and pushes a finger inside her, cursing into her mouth. 

“At least go turn off the stove,” she says and he growls, wrenching himself off the bed and looking down at her with hooded eyes. 

“Stay there,” he says. Beth watches him jog over to the stove and her heart skips a beat at how eager he is to get back to her. She quickly pulls his shirt over her head and tosses it over the side of the bed, moving up against the pillows and cupping her breasts. 

As Rio comes to stand at the bottom of the bed, she bends her legs up, dipping her knees together. His gaze is locked on hers, eyes full of fire as he crawls over to her. 

He kisses her knees one at a time, then gently pushes them apart, moving up the inside of one leg with soft kisses as he settles in, draping her long legs over his shoulders.

“You don’t have to do...that...” she says once he’s situated and staring openly at her most intimate area, and it's completely fruitless because he doesn't even acknowledge the comment, just dips in and starts licking her. 

Beth moans deeply and he seems to like that because then he’s moaning too; making her vibrate and  _ oh  _ she thinks as his tongue goes  _ inside _ and then moves up- tapping and sucking right where she needs him. 

She moves against him softly, trying to maintain some semblance of control when suddenly he stops and looks at her. 

“You ain’t gotta be gentle with me, baby,” he says, picking up her hands where they rest at her sides and placing them on his head and she’s struck with wonder at how perceptive he is; reading her mind and body like he made her.

Beth takes his words to heart and grips his head tight, moving against him in a delicious rhythm as as she lets go. He’s moaning his approval into her again and whispering things against her swollen flesh, looking up at her here and there and is just really  _ engaged  _ in the whole thing. 

“Mmm...uh… 

“Come on,” he says in that demanding way that is so—

“... I can’t..” she says practically sobbing, afraid to let go completely but unable to stop rutting against his questing finger.

“Course’ you can. Damn how you taste so good?” he asks and then he’s lapping at her clit again and 

“Ohhh… oh my god… I..” 

He grabs her ass with both hands and holds her there as she begins to pulse against him. His mouth softens and slows, knowing exactly what she needs as her climax surges through her body in powerful waves. She grips his head and rides it out, her heart clenching when he drops a sweet kiss to her. 

Afterwards, he jumps up and goes into the bathroom, emerging seconds later. Beth blushes in embarrassment when he settles back between her legs, pressing a warm cloth there and gently cleaning her. She’s not used to people taking care of her, like ever, and it hits her hard. Tears well up in her eyes and when he hears her sniff he looks at her, brows creasing. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Beth covers her face with her hands for a second before meeting his eyes again. She’s being ridiculous. “I don’t know, this is all new to me,” she says smiling softly at him. 

“What, being treated with respect?” She just shrugs and nods at that, wanting to explain further but finding it unnecessary. 

She can tell he wants to say more as well; his lips are parted and he’s looking at her like he’s trying to weigh his options or something. But he’s not exactly forthcoming with his feelings and it's really ok. Because she usually isn’t either. But she knows he is enjoying their time together and she kind of wishes they’d met under different circumstances; free from all the pain and betrayal that seems to cloud their history. 

Because there’s something between them that is just too good to forget about. Rio was definitely right about that. 

_ I can’t just forget you. Doesn’t work like that.  _

She certainly gets it now, having experienced the intensity of their connection. Rio seems quiet ever since they became more intimate but he’s affectionate and warm towards her so it’s probably just the tenuous nature of the circumstances. There's a lot of unresolved issues that occurred before her accident and now that she has a little bit of insight into these things, she's even more impressed with how he just seems to handle stuff. Impressed and just a little bit full of _glee _over the reality that he sought her out to maintain their connection; especially considering he wasn't doing it because of her outstanding debt. The debt that probably still stands and if she's being honest, she wouldn't mind doing a few jobs of...Crime... or whatever its called. She thinks she can be better at it than before, and he kinda makes it sound exciting. But that's crazy, right? Because she was horrified when she found out about her short-lived life of crime so why would she now be thinking about trying it out again? Not to mention the fact that they seemed to be terrible criminals- sloppy- which is more than a little embarrassing for Beth if she's honest. Maybe she wants the chance to redeem herself. Impress him the way he impresses her. 

Or maybe she's just fucking crazy. 

She thinks about the last few hours and how taken she is with Rio. She's starting to see that he’s a rare type of person-- how he supports her and listens to her... she knows the dynamic between them changed dramatically since she lost her memories and Beth finds that maybe Dean wasn't wrong about her accident being a blessing in disguise. 

Its been, in a way, a rebirth. 

Quite a bit of has come to light recently and yes, it's overwhelming. And yes, it has probably not really hit her yet that her marriage is officially over and that she will have to uproot her children. But what is most pressing in her mind is this feeling of strength. She just feels like she can handle anything and Beth has never truly felt that way. She knows logically that she can make it through things; having survived her own terrible childhood. But this is more about thriving. 

She feels like she can  _ thrive _ now And that’s… it feels like it's because of him.

Because of Rio. 

*******

Rio watches her sleep, taking in the gentle slope of her small nose and perfect bow of her lips. She's eerily quiet when she’s asleep but her face is expressive and that suits her, he thinks, smiling at the sweet way she holds the pillow under her head. 

He can’t say he’s surprised by what transpired over the last few hours; he knew in the back of his mind that if they were alone together for any length of time, it was bound to happen. He tried to tell himself otherwise as he was racing to get to her that morning, but truthfully he was hoping he’d get her to open up in more ways than one. And he had. 

And now… well now he’s afraid. And Rio  _ hates _ being afraid. Makes him feel weak and out of control and it was that creeping feeling of dread that made him avoid getting emotionally attached to Elizabeth in the first place all those months ago. Before the accident. He knew that heat of this magnitude could only lead to trouble. Anyway, he’d done a terrible job of avoiding her and now he doesn’t want to anymore. So he’s afraid and he hates it but there ain’t nothin’ he can do so he watches her. 

A piece of her hair falls in front of her face and he sees her nose scrunch up like a bunny as it tickles her. He gently picks it up and tucks it behind her ear, careful not to wake her. She sighs sweetly and he rolls his eyes at the way his stomach clenches. He flips onto his back and stares at the ceiling. 

What now? She’d asked him the same question. Only thing they can do is take it one day at a time. He needs to take care of the fucking Boomer situation still and that’s bound to get tricky considering he needs to have a firm conversation with the other two. They didn’t lose their memories and are still accountable as far as Rio’s concerned. Yeah, they were given special treatment as her partners but someone needs to be held responsible with this shit because it's really bad and he’s not pleased. 

It's tough too because it's not just the fact that Elizabeth can’t remember that’s makin’ him go easy on her. Obviously, it makes no logical sense to try and hold her to something she don’t remember but nah —its this relationship between them that’s softened his heart to the point of stupid. It's morphed and blossomed over the last six months his feelings having grown exponentially. 

So he ain’t gonna be strong-armin’ her best friend and her baby sister. He just needs to know what the fuck happened. And then he needs to deal with the shit himself like he should have in the first place. 

Lesson learned, he supposes. She’s the first and last mouthy white lady he ever plans on fallin’ for. 

Suddenly he wants to wake her up and tell her how he feels… that he wants her to stay with him, wrapped up in him.. Ask her to be his girlfriend or some crazy shit like that and he knows it's because he’s afraid. He ain’t gonna do it. But damn his skin is itching with the need to keep her with him somehow. 

She’s moving then, suddenly awake and scooching closer to him. He pulls her into his chest and she burrows in, kissing him there. 

“What time is it?” she asks, yawning. 

“No idea,” he reaches behind him, grabbing his watch off the table. “2:09. We slept for an hour.” 

“Nice. Do you have an extra toothbrush?” 

“Mmhm. There's new ones under the sink." 

"I'll be right back she says, moving to crawl over him but he stops her in the middle, grabbing her ass and pushing her down on him because she's _naked _in his bed and she ain't goin' anywhere. Her tits are in his face and he's perfectly fine with that but then she's trying to get away again. 

"Stay here," he says locking his arms around her and thrusting up into her. 

"Oh my god I just need to brush my teeth, you can't wait?" She's sayin' it but her body is humming a different tune as she slides herself down his hardness. 

"Nuh uh." 

He figures he better get inside of her because once he is she won't be thinkin' about minty fresh breath. His hand goes down and he lines himself up, watching her face go from laughing to gasping in a hot second when his thick head breaches her entrance. 

"Mm..," she moans out as she sinks fully onto him and lays down, burying her face in his neck. The way they move against one another would probably best be described as makin' love but labels don't matter. Point is, they're moving slow and steady and fuck it is _wet _down there. By the time he's about to come his body is trembling like he's a damn virgin again. She stays on top of him for a few moments, and he loves the weight of her body on him. 

"Didn't think you'd be much of a cuddler," he says, dropping a kiss to her hair.

She huffs. "I'm not. Usually." 

"Mmm ok. So I'm special then." 

"You are," she says quietly and then lifts up on her arms and looks down at him with her bright blue eyes. Its on the tip of his tongue, something, he isn't quite sure what but he definitely thinks she should know that he doesn't want these few days of being close to be a one-time thing. 

She quickly hops off him then, wrapping the sheet around her and pulling it completely off of him as she sashays to the bathroom. He turns onto his side and watches her ass shake as she walks and it reminds him of that one chick. From that show about advertising where they smoke all the time. Yeah, she got that same strut.

Rio lay in a blissed-out state of contentment, waiting for her to finish. 

"I'm gonna take a shower!" she yells from behind the door. 

He gets up and pulls his pants back on, and goes to the door. "You want that soup now?" 

"Yeah sure. Thank you." 

He heads to the kitchen and starts reheating the soup again then grabs an avocado and various items out of the fridge to make guac. His mind wanders to several other incidences that they didn't discuss. There were so many things that happened between them and he thinks for the hundredth time that fate somehow intervened. He gets a fresh start with her. At least, he wants one.

He thinks about things they can do tonight and tomorrow. He doesn't have Marcus but he'll have to work for a few hours tomorrow. Maybe she wants to come with him, all he has are a few routine drops. Shit, he knows she loves the excitement. But that would be stupid, right? He didn't need to be ropin her back in. Nah, that was crazy. They could just watch movies or somethin' when he gets home. Just thinking about doing something normal like watching a movie with her is getting him excited and it makes him realize he's been wanting this for awhile, his feelings having kicked into hyperdrive when she lost her memories. 

Things are complicated for her right now and that's somethin' to consider. But maybe after her divorce in finalized and she's healed a bit more.. maybe then..

Rio is jarred from his thoughts when he hears a loud crash from the bathroom. He runs to the door, trying to open it but its locked. He knocks on it loudly.

"Lizabeth? What happened? You ok?" There's no answer so he jimmies the lock and busts in, his eyes finding her immediately where she's laying on the shower tile- fallen soap dish and shampoo bottles scattered around her. His heart races as he rushes to her, lifting her out of the shower and laying her on the soft bathroom rugs. He grabs a towel from the counter and lays it over her and then taps her face. 

"Yo. what the hell. Wake up, darlin'," he says, not seeing any injuries he wonders if she fainted or something. Her pulse is strong and she's breathing so maybe she blacked out due to her brain trauma? Rio has no idea but the bathroom floor is not a good spot so he lifts her again and carries her to the bed, pulling the covers up around her. He's sitting by her side, worrying his lip and wondering if he should call 9-1-1 when she suddenly sits up gasping like she's waking up from a bad dream. 

"Damn. You ok?" he asks her. 

She looks at him like a deer caught in headlights and his heart falls into his stomach. 

"What is it?" he asks but he already knows. 

"I remember." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied. Its gonna be six chapters. *** runs and hides ***


	6. Are You Sure About This?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignorance is bliss but very rarely permanent.  
The conclusion.. :) 
> 
> <3 Only one thing that money can't buy, true love that will never die.<3  
'All My Sorrows Soon Forgotten'- The Kingston Trio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr Fluff prompts 27/68 from Medievalraven included in the Epilogue **Kisses**
> 
> thank you DropKick my precious boo <3

“I remember,” she says and he stays stock still, not really feeling equipped to handle something like this. She’s clearly spooked so he waits silently, feeling her out. 

“Oh God,” she says after what seems like forever, burying her face in her hands. “Can I have that shirt?” 

“Yeah,” he picks it up off the floor and sits back by her, handing it to her. She snatches it and puts it on, Rio tamping down the hurt rising up in him. 

“Do you have another pair of those pants?” she asks and he goes to his drawer getting some for her. 

“Thank you,” she says quietly when he sets them on the bed next to her.

She puts them on under the covers and then moves off the bed. Rio follows her into the kitchen and when she turns around, he’s there in front of her, eyes on her face. She's looking at the ground, arms wrapped around herself protectively. 

“I need to get home. This is… not where I should be right now,” she says, grabbing her purse off the island and slipping on her shoes. She pulls her phone out and clicks around on it. Rio walks a bit closer to her. 

“What are you doin'?”

“Getting an Uber,” she says without looking up from her phone. 

“Let me take you. Elizabeth, look at me,” he reaches out and touches her arm gently and she yanks it away. He raises both hands in surrender and steps back, feeling likes he’s been burned. 

“Sorry,” she says, immediately softening when she sees his reaction. “I just... I need to leave.” 

“That’s fine but can you just relax real quick? You fainted and I’m no doctor but I’m pretty sure gettin’ a years worth of lost memories back is a pretty big shock to the system. You really think bein’ around your kids is for the best? Or is that just your guilt talkin’?” 

“Stop. You don’t know me. This… whatever this was today wasn’t real.” 

Her use of past tense right now really pisses him off and he’s tempted to be cold, let her go; the urge to protect himself with indifference pushing against his rib cage and demanding he do what’s always worked for him. He thinks about her deception with Boomer, leading him to believe she offed him when some other bullshit went down. Her cutting corners leading to more problems for them. And now ain’t the time to bring it up, obviously. She’s not well. But he can’t help thinkin’ about all ways in which he’s been easy on her when she’s in front of him bein' like that. 

She’s got a full picture of the last 6 months and how he's treated her and she got the nerve to say the shit between them isn’t real? That fucking hurts. 

But he ain’t about to give up on her now. On them. Rios had months to get accustomed to this new dynamic between them, and hell. He's the one that initiated it so he can see why she'd be defaulting to avoidance. He doesn’t want to push, but maybe he can get her to see things for what they are before she leaves and spirals into denial. He knows she’s way too good at that. 

“Oh but it is real, sweetheart. You can run away today but this,” he gestures between them, “Ain’t goin’ anywhere. You gotta know that.” 

"No, I don’t _ know _ that. What I _ know _ is hostility and frustration. That’s what we are to one another. Distrust and games and manipulations.”

“It’s different now,” he says, stepping closer. “You been here. You know things have changed.

“I don’t trust this. I can’t,” she says and it’s clear from her tone that her defenses are crumbling. Rio feels a quick relief that he didn’t jump the gun. She’s just scared. 

Rio closes the distance to only a few inches, banking on the affect he knows he has on her regardless if they’re touching or not. “All I’m askin’ is that you just take a minute and maybe try and talk this out. Wanna make sure you ain’t gonna faint again. Ok? _ Damn. _I’m worried about you, Ok? 

She searches his eyes for sincerity and he takes a deep breath, willing himself to be patient with her. Finally, she turns and walks over to the couch sitting with her legs curled up. He purposely sits away from her, the distance killing him in how swiftly it came in and robbed him of the softness between them. 

At the same time… she’s back. And the ache he felt for months after the accident, the one that reminded him that she didn’t know him, or his touch, or his voice… that was gone. Their new thing was great and all; especially today. But having her back completely, despite the threat to their newfound harmony, was ideal. 

“Lets talk, yeah?” Rio says and she nods. “What happened?” 

“I was just taking a shower and I started thinking about you and I remembered that you touch my face. A lot. And then I saw it- the night you shot Dean. It was horrible it felt like I was reliving it…” her voice breaks and tears start to track down her face. “I was so afraid of you. I thought you were gonna kill me.” He doesn’t respond just waits for her to continue. “After that everything just came crashing down on me and it hurt. So badly. I thought my head was going to explode. That’s when i fainted.” 

“Thank God you didn’t hit your head again on the way down,” he says. 

She shakes her head and drops it into her hands. “This is embarrassing. God what am I doing here?” 

“Like you don’t know? You ain’t got that luxury anymore, darlin.” 

She looks at him and huffs humorlessly. “That’s true.” Her eyes are open again and he can tell she’s not as spooked. At least not by his presence so he chances it and takes her hand in his. He looks down at their joined hands, the contrast between them loud but just so appealing to him. 

She looks at him in amusement. “Who are you and what have you done with Rio?” 

“You just seein’ a different side of me, that’s all it is.” 

Beth nods and gives him a tight smile. “I know. I guess I’m just feeling a little exposed,” she says. 

“Look I’m sorry if you feel takin’ advantage of,” he says. “I didn’t plan for none a’ this. You know that right?”

“Yes… no. Its not that. I _ wanted _ to um… I always wa--,” she trails off and bites her lip, Rio’s eyes dart there and suddenly he’s turned on again because of course. His dick doesn’t really care about the serious shit going on. 

“That’s the first time I’ve heard you say my name,” he says. 

“Just now?” she asks and he nods. “I’m pretty sure I said it in the throws of passion earlier,” she says, her smile grows a bit and he feels a sense of relief that she’s starting to relax. 

“I’m sayin’ its the first time I ever heard _ you _say it. The real you.” 

“That _ was _ the real me earlier," Beth says. 

“Exactly. See? All of this is _ us _. Whether or not you got your memory or whether or not we workin’ together.” 

“Oh my god are you trying to school me right now?” 

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” he asks and she rolls her eyes. “Who the fuck says “throws of passion” anyway?” 

“I do! What are we even doing? We are like polar opposites,” she says.

“You called me, remember?” 

“Yes, I know. It’s a rhetorical question.” 

“Oh we gettin’ philosophical up in here now? Aight check it. You were lost and yours truly lit the path home for you. Now you better than before because you have a whole new outlook. That’s why you here.”

“Oh, you’re my guiding light?” she asks sarcastically. 

“Pretty much, yeah.” 

“Ok. Great. And what happens with the business? Are you still going to let me off?” 

Hmm. Rio has to think about that for a second. He did need intel on the Boomer thing. 

“Here’s the thing with that. Since you remember again, I am gonna need some help dealin’ with somethin’ but nah. Business is runnin’ smooth as butter without you and your girls there to fuck shit up. I’m good.” 

Beth glares at him but moves closer. “You were turning a huge profit through the dealership so don’t even go there.” 

“Yeah, well. That place is done and so is our partnership. It was fun while it lasted,” he says and smirks at the challenging glint in her eyes. He missed that look. 

“Do I have a say in that?” 

He shakes his head, chuckling. “Hell no.” 

“We weren’t that bad,” she says indignantly and Rio barks out a laugh. 

“Are you for real right now? World’s Dumbest Criminals called they lookin’ to feature you and yo’ girls.” 

“I resent that!” Beth says and really she amuses him to no end.

“A few hours ago Blank Slate Beth was talkin’ shit too, remember?” 

“I have brain damage!” 

“And I aint’ runnin’ no special needs crime syndicate,” he says, laughing at the expression on her face. She’s a trip. Always trying to push it. 

“But… we were just starting to turn a profit. And…” 

“You ain’t workin’ for me anymore. Get it through your brain-damaged head.” 

"We can do better. I can. I," 

“It’s not safe, Elizabeth,” he says, his tone changing as he cuts her off. “I get that it turns you on and shit but you ain’t cut out for it. There’s a million other things you’d be real good at where you don’t gotta hurt people. Ok? Just drop it. Its over.” 

They stare at one another, and Rio is expecting more indignation from her but instead she grabs his face and presses her lips to his, and he groans in relief because its all he’s wanted to do for the past 45 minutes since she fainted. She pushes him backwards on the couch, laying over him and kissing him fiercely, her body pressing into him. Rio’s hands go to her lower back and smooth down over her ass which is currently covered by his clothing. Her whole body is and he kinda loves it

“You like when I boss you around or something?” he asks when she pauses to look down at him. 

“I know what you’re doing,” she says. 

“What’s that.” His hands lay high on the backs of her legs, fingers situated in the crease where her ass meets her thighs. 

She lifts her hand to his face and smooths a finger over his eyebrow, down his nose and then cups his face. “You want me and you think if we work together we can’t have _ this _.” 

“This?” he asks looking up at her heatedly and squeezing her ass. 

“Mmhm. That and this,” she leans down to kiss him softly and pushes her body into his. 

He brings a hand up and threads it into her hair. “Not just that,” he says. 

“No?” 

“Want more,” he says and then he’s licking his lips before pulling her back down to him, and pouring every emotion he’s feeling into kissing her. 

****

“I’ve done more snuggling today than I have in my entire life,” she says later, when she’s cradled against his chest. They’d kissed leisurely for several long minutes, content to feel and just be with one another. Rio felt like he was floating on cloud having her curves pressed against him, tasting her, feeling her soft skin-- the weight of who they are and everything they've been through bearing down on them just enough to highlight the miracle of their closeness, but not enough to crush them.

“Me too,” he says. 

“Really? I figured you were affectionate."

“I think I am I just…,” he lifts his hand and then drops it.

“Just what?” she asks after a few moments of silence. She props her chin on her hand and looks at him curiously. 

“Don’t really keep anyone around long enough to find out I guess.” he says. 

After a few moments of them just staring at one another, he pushes her bangs back and tucks some strands behind her ear. 

“You wanna ask me somethin’ else?” 

Beth smiles slightly. “There was that girl you had pick up one of your cars. You seemed pretty affectionate with her.” Rio huffs immediately and runs his tongue along the inside of his lip. 

“That was Dylan,” he says and Beth raises her eyebrows. 

“That’s a boy’s name,” she says with a bitter edge to her voice and Rio’s smile spreads wider. 

“You saw that, huh?”

“Mhm.” 

“Yeah. I made sure you did.” 

Beth sits up suddenly and glares down at him. “That's so immature!” 

“Had to keep you on your toes somehow.” 

“Well, it backfired because seeing you...do that… was what made me say ‘screw it’ and blow up one of your cars. That’s how I found the drugs.” 

“Seeing me _ ‘do that’ _?” he says, chuckling. “It was only a hug, damn. You in love wit me or somethin’?” 

“Pshtt. No. _ No. _I just thought you were playing me and I also didn’t like the idea of being a side piece.” 

“Hold up,” Rio says, standing up from the couch and looking down at her. “Me playin’ you? You’re the one who siren-songed me into that bathroom the week before. And who the fuck you think was the side-piece in that scenario?” 

“What?! I… you…,” 

“I mean, obviously I was down from the beginning but you initiated it and don’t tell me havin’ that dumbass a few feet away wasn’t part of the thrill," he continues. 

“Stop.” 

“Ain’t that right? Wasn’t even about me, that was a ‘fuck you’ to him.” 

Beth puts her head in her hands. “Please, stop.” 

“Shit, ” he kneels down in front of her and puts his hands on her knees, cursing himself for stressing her out when she’s vulnerable. “You ok?” 

“I'm fine. I just.. I didn't think it mattered to you,” she says. "It's a lot to process; reliving all of these moments and considering their implications. It's just, a lot."

"Guess I'm a little sensitive about that night," he admits.

“You are?” 

Rio nods and then smoothes his hands up her thighs. “I mean yeah, Mama. You saw what came after I got a taste of you. You make me crazy. And then I got to thinkin' maybe you'd be done with me once you 'found yourself' or somethin'." 

Rio’s heart beats faster in his chest at the spontaneously admission. _ Where did that come from? _ Now that he’s thinking about it though, it makes sense. At first he loved seeing how he could affect her, influence her. He loved watching her come out of her shell; the vulnerability and fear in her gaze when she didn’t think she could handle something, and the frustration at him when he expected more from her. Witnessing that and her subsequent ‘bossing up’ with Boland Motors was like some kind of natural high for him. But alongside that was the niggling feeling that he was a stepping stone of sorts, which wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t for the feelings he’d developed along the way. 

Beth chews her lip and stares at him for a beat. “You felt used?"

"Not so much that, as I just wanted to keep you around. Didn't want to be some dude you passed by on your way to the top,"

"You have a funny way of expressing yourself," she says.

He pulls her flush against him where he kneels before her, her legs easily straddling his waist and her arms draping around his neck. Rio wraps himself around her and lays his head on her soft chest. He humms into her, realizing he's been successful at keeping her around. She was right here with him. 

"I _was_ kinda using you to find myself, but I didn't mean to," she says, rubbing her face against the top of his head. "Its just...you _ see _ me in a way no one ever has.” 

He squeezes her tighter. 

"God that sounds dumb, doesn't it?" she says. 

Rio lifts his face and looks up at her. Her eyes are bright blue and _beautiful_. Open.

"Nothin' dumb about that, baby. I do see you." She grips the back of his head and kisses him and it feels momentous. 

****

A bit later they are finally eating Rio’s chicken tortilla soup and he’s pretty sure she likes it if the noises are anything to go by. 

“You're a great cook,” she says, popping a tortilla chip with guacamole in to her mouth. 

“Not really. I can make like three things.” 

The sun is setting and washing them in twilight and despite having to pop a few aspirins, Elizabeth is starting to feel better. They’d spent the last few hours talking and it's the longest Rio's ever spent doing that. They'd talked about their kids, their childhoods, crazy dreams. But the most illuminating conversations they’d had were the ones about their shared history. Rio had a bigger picture now about Elizabeth’s motives and secret desires, her past hurts and other contributing factors. He mostly listened to her but he opened up a little bit too; telling her about the business and how he doesn’t see himself doing it forever. She’d been pretty surprised about that. 

He really wants to get his hands on her, though. Wants to be inside her. Bad. But he's letting her lead and he can't expect her to want to... but the heat is there and its strong. and everything is heightened now. With every new insight he wants her more, and he's seeing things he hasn't seen before. Like the two freckles on her hand, and the one on her neck. And he's thinkin' about her body; the color of her nipples and the silky feel of her skin. He wants to show her what he can do, how he can make her feel. Prove to her that she ain't some mountain to climb or empire to conquer, but that she's a queen to be worshipped. His Queen. He wants to show her that because he ain't about to tell her that cheesy-ass shit. 

But for now he's feeding her and that's good enough. 

“Mind if I put a record on?” she asks a bit later, as they clean up their dinner dishes. 

“Not at all. Got my Pop’s collection,” he says. 

“That’s nice… is he still..?” 

“Nah. He passed away when I was in my twenties.” 

“I’m sorry. Mine did too actually. Wait.. how old _ are _you?” she asks as they walk over to the record player. 

“36,” he says, sitting cross-legged on the floor and pulls out two plastic crates holding vinyls. 

Beth sits across from him and they start flipping through his collection. “I like you,” she says suddenly, and warmth fills his chest radiating through his entire being. She’s drinking bourbon again and is a few drinks deep-- got that little glow about her and that damn flirty lilt to her voice. 

“For real?” 

“Yes. You saved Jane’s dubby.” 

“I did what now?” He glances at her quizzically. 

“The blanket. I still can’t believe you did that.” 

“Oh yeah. Pissed me off they wouldn’t give it to you. Roaches.” 

“I almost called you that night. Invited you over.” 

“Yeah?” 

She nods but doesn’t elaborate, just continues shifting through his collection. “Ooh. The Righteous Brothers.” He stares at her waiting for her to give in and look over. She sets the record on the floor next to her and goes back to the crate. 

“Elizabeth.” 

“Hmm?” she still isn’t looking at him but he sees the smirk threatening to come out.

“Tell me more.” he demands. 

She stops her search to look at him. “About what?” 

He gives her the look and she smiles, moves the crate to the side and crawls over to him, his eyes never leaving hers. He moves his crate as well and she keeps coming until she’s straddling him. Rio groans at the feel of her pressed against him. Again. He needs her. 

“Not much to tell,” she shrugs. “ Just wanted to call and tell you my bedroom doors were open if you wanted to stop by.” 

“What for?” he asks, bringing his face close to hers on a tilt, and teasing her lips with the slightest brush of his bottom one. He's growing hard at the feel of her warm center and her tits against him. He squeezes one through her shirt and runs his thumb slowly back and forth over her nipple, feeling it perk up. 

“So I could thank you," she says, her eyes fall shut as a moan slips out. 

“I woulda come,” he says against her lips. 

“I know.” 

“And you woulda too. More than once.” 

He's on his back on the rug now, Elizabeth having pushed him down and she's running her hand up his chest and kissing him. She lays over top of him, between his parted legs and Rio’s hands go to her hips, squeezing and pushing her into his hardness. She moves against him and moans into his mouth when she feels his hands dip into the back of the pants she’s wearing, smoothing over her ass and dragging them down. 

“Off,” he whispers and then bites her lip. She kicks the offending garment the rest of the way off and rises to her knees above him. She touches him over his pants and it's a little bit embarrassing how loudly he reacts. As she leans on her forearms on either side of his hips, Rio's eyes don’t know where to focus; on her face being so close to his cock or her thick ass in the air. She pulls at his pants and boxers and he helps her get them off and suddenly they’re naked together and its _ her-- _ her memories are in tact and its_ them_ and he feels like such a pussy at how it makes him feel. 

Why does he feel like this? Like his whole world is spinning out of control and starting to make sense all at the same time? But then her lips are around his cock and he’s not thinkin’ anymore. 

“Mmm,” Elizabeth moans around him and his hands thread in to her hair gripping tightly. She wraps her fist around him firmly and drags it down, following with her mouth and sucking his head on the way back up. Rio wrenches his eyes open and looks down just in time to see her tongue swirling around the tip and kissing it before sucking down the length of him once more. She keeps a steady pace, her mouth wet and _ so hot _.

He pushes down just slightly on her head, feeling her out and she whimpers. “That ok?” he asks her, not entirely sure if the sound was encouraging him or not but then she’s nodding and her hand is pumping him harder so he adds more pressure. 

He hits the back of her throat only twice before he’s cursing and trying to pull her up and onto him. She doesn’t move though, continuing her ministrations stubbornly. 

“I’m gonna come, baby,” he warns, gripping her tighter. She nods again and one more glance to her ass bobbing in the air and he’s a goner. 

Elizabeth moans around him so sweetly as he comes in her mouth, milking him with long, languid strokes. His hips twitch and he realizes his fingers in her hair are not exactly gentle so he loosens up and smooths his hands through the silky tresses and then down her one arm that's laying next to him, threading his fingers through hers when he gets to her hand. She swallows all of him down, the simple act doing something in his heart that it hasn’t with anyone else. 

A feeling of possession and belonging overcomes him as he watches her plant a gentle, sucking kiss to the tip before kissing his thigh. He finds it amusing that all he wants to do is make her feel good and then she flips the script on him and its just so her. And its them. Their toe-to-toe is the underlying mechanism working in them and he loves it. 

Loves her.

"Stay here," she whispers and drops a soft kiss to the side of his mouth. Rio watches as she stands up and grabs the blankets and pillows off the bed, bringing them back to where he lay amidst the strewn out records. She dumps them and then goes and turns off the lights. She puts the Righteous Brothers record on and then settles against him. 

“Is this ok?” she asks quietly, laying against his chest as he's arranging the comforter around them. 

“More than ok, sweetheart. Feel like I died and went to heaven,” he confesses, dropping a kiss to the crown of her head. Her hand draws gentle patterns on his chest as they lay there quietly listening to the soft music. The time for words has ceased and they fall asleep remembering all they used to be and all they are now- the full spectrum of who they've become to one another, wrapping around them and sealing their fate. 

**Epilogue**

_ Six weeks later… _

Her phone rings and it says ‘private’ so she smiles and hits the green button. 

“Long time no talk,” she says. 

“You said six weeks.” 

“And it’s been exactly that,” she says amused. 

“You know how it is, Ma. Got a schedule to stick to.” 

“Oh yeah? And what does that look like for say....Friday night?” 

“I got Marcus, but we wide open.” 

“I have my kids this weekend as well. Wanna come over for dinner and a movie?” 

“Hell yeah.” 

Beth feels that special zing zip through her chest; the one she only gets with Rio, the one that happens whether or not she remembers him because they just resonate like that. 

“Do you miss me?” she asks. 

“You have no idea.” 

When it had come time for Beth to go home and face her new reality, she’d suggested her and Rio take some time apart-- six weeks to be exact-- so that she would have time to finalize the divorce and settle in with her children. Also, they’d discussed the Boomer situation, coming up with a plan and thought the six weeks would allow Rio the space to handle it distraction free. It wasn’t easy for either of them but it was necessary. They needed to step away and get some perspective; the last year and a half having been life-altering for the both of them. 

And...Beth wanted a clean slate. With everything. 

She’s just finishing up dinner when the doorbell rings and her herd of elephants rush to open it. 

“Marcus!” She hears the girls yell and then “Hi Marcus’s daddy.”

“You can call me Rio if you want.” 

Beth makes eye contact with Rio as everyone floods into the kitchen and she can’t help the smile that’s quirks at her lips. “Kids go get washed up. Kenny can you set the dining room table please?” 

“Why do I have to do it?” 

Beth gives him a look and they all leave the kitchen, Marcus included following the rest of them to the bathroom. As soon as they are out of sight, Rio pushes her against the island and leans into her face. 

“Smells good in here,” he says. 

“I hope you’re hungry,” she says looking up at him. “I made enough for an army.” Beth is a little nervous; the time apart causing just the right amount of awkwardness that Rio doens’t seem to be affected by in the least. Their special time at his loft has faded into such a delightful memory that Beth wonders if it even happened. Of course, she knows it did. He just seems to good to be true at times. 

“Oh I’m hungry,” he says dipping down and capturing her bottom lip between his. She whimpers and pulls him closer wrapping her arms around his neck as he squeezes her sides. They hear the kids in the dining room and Rio kisses her chastely before pulling away, catching his lip between his teeth and traversing her body with his eyes, bottom to top before landing back on her face with a smirk. 

She looks down at her outfit and sees she’s still wearing her rooster apron. Dammit.

After a lively meal that goes surprisingly well, they all pile into the living room to watch a movie. The kids are jumping on the couch, a few of them are wrestling... needless to say, its a madhouse. 

"Guys! **It's called Netflix and chill for a reason**," Beth says and Rio looks at her, eyebrows shooting up. "What?" she asks. 

"I don't think you know that reason," he says smiling amusedly at her. "C'mon, let's drink while they wear themselves out. Ain't nobody watchin' a movie right now." He takes her hand and pulls her into the kitchen. They get their drinks and a blanket and go outside to the porch swing. 

“Wow. Its weird seeing you on a swing,” she says once they're settled. Rio laughs. 

“You’re weird,” he says, fingers gracing her chin as he leans in to kiss her. 

Beth deepens it, licking around the inside of his lips and sucking his tongue into her mouth. She missed his mouth. A lot. 

“Mmm.. when do the kids go back to their dads?” he asks, pulling her closer and moving his lips down to her neck. 

“Not til next Friday,” she says, closing her eyes and arching against him. Rio groans in frustration and slumps against the back of the swing. He links their fingers together and brings her hand to rest on his thigh, taking a sip of his drink, and Beth has to smile at the actual pout that's marring his beautiful mouth. 

“When does Marcus go back?” 

“Tomorrow night. Why?” he says, looking at her skeptically. 

She pulls him back to her, bringing her lips up close to his ear. “I’ll leave my doors open,” she says swiping her tongue inside. 

He groans again for a different reason, turning his face and capturing her lips in a searing kiss that slows after a few moments of heat and simmers into a sweet nose-to-nose closeness. They hold hands after that, swinging silently and listening to the crickets. 

Soon they hear a crash coming from inside and Jane’s loud wailing. Beth looks over at Rio. 

“**Are you sure about this**?” 

“Ain’t it obvious?” 

“Can you ever just answer a question?” she asks. 

“Can you?” 

She laughs and snuggles against him. “Yes, I can. Ask me anything.” 

“Aight. You glad your memories came back?” 

Beth thinks about that for a minute. It was kind of nice living in a sort of ignorance is bliss; especially after she found out about the illicit things she’d been involved in at the time. But it had been frustrating not remembering. Quite a bit of good had come from it… i.e. finally pulling the plug out of her flat-lined marriage, and of course… Rio. Beth doesn’t know what would’ve happened between them if the accident had never occurred. In a very real way she is grateful for the whole thing. And she’s happy she remembers their time before, even if they had some tough moments. It makes her appreciate him that much more. Its funny, she'd been pissed at Dean for suggesting the accident was a blessing in disguise. Turns out he was right for once in his life. 

“Mmhm. I am," she says, touching the scruff on his face. "I never want to forget the look on your face when I negotiated the 50/50 deal.” She pinches his cheek gently and smirks at him. 

“Oh yea?” He tickles her side and kisses her, catching her laugh between his lips.

“Yeah. or when I called you a bitch at Cloud 9,” she giggles out. 

“Mm. ok. You think that’s funny? What about that time I had my gun to your pretty little necklace? You remember that?” he says tilting his face away from hers and gauging her reaction. 

“Yes, I remember that,” she says. “My heart was beating so fast.” 

“Were you scared?” 

“A little,” she says as her hand travels down over his hard abdomen and splays there. “But what I remember most about that was the smell of your cologne.” 

“S’that right.” 

“Mmhm. It transfered on to me. I slept in my clothes that night.” 

“Damn. You had it bad even then?” he teases and she just nods, her hand finding his again and linking their fingers together. 

“I did too," he says, kissing her hair. 

In the weeks following their reunion, Beth and Rio found the reminiscing of their past interactions _ very _entertaining. It was often a prelude to intimacy as they shared with one another how much they’d been affected by the other; the memories they'd retained being opened up and treasured together- never to be taken for granted again. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they lived happily ever after so suck it Jenna Bans.  
The End.  
(Just kidding I love her for giving us Brio)  
(But they could ride off into the sunset, ok? Crazier things have happened)
> 
> I am planning a follow up One-shot- one year later story for this fic. Mostly because there are a few things I want to address such as the fact that Dean bought Rio out with Beth’s settlement and Rio put it away for a rainy day... I’m looking forward to telling the story of what came of that. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Byeeee

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song by The Kingston Trio


End file.
